


Seven Devils

by Yurutono



Category: Love Live! School Idol Project, Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/F, Rating May Change, Songfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-06 13:31:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 44,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8753476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yurutono/pseuds/Yurutono
Summary: "Seven devils all around you,
  
  Seven devils in my house,
  
  See they were there when I woke up this morning,
  
  I'll be dead before the day is done."
~Maybe she was destined for this. To be subjected to a brutal torment for the remainder of her life that she felt was getting shorter and shorter by the day. Ayase Eli feels as though her days are numbered.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> the song i used for inspiration is "Seven Devils" by Florence + The Machine.
> 
> i love Florence way too much.

Eli had awoken from yet another night of nightmares and visions, with nothing to show for it but a mess of sweat and blood spattered on the pillow. Gingerly, she brought two fingers up to her nose, only for them to come away bloody. She wasn’t surprised.

 

In fact, she had insisted that her wife wasn't to sleep within the same bed as her any more. A disappointment to the both of them, but they accepted it as necessary. After she had slid out of bed and made herself decent, she curtly instructed a servant to change the sheets of the bed. She had lost count of how many times she had given that order.

 

Day by day, her mind slipped further, threatening to become a victim to the Seven Devils that invaded her sanity, her thoughts and her judgement. More than once had she had to catch herself, even having the thought of sentencing a poor man who had done nothing but attempt to steal food for his family to death.

 

Out of the corner of her eye, she could have sworn she saw something dark blue. But it was gone the moment she turned her head. She felt a flash of recognition go through her head; it was one of those damned devils. A constant looming reminder that they were with her and they refused to leave. But something in her mind told her that she shouldn't tell a soul. Every time she had tried, her words had stuck in her throat and her mind had steered away from the subject.

 

She exited her chambers after she had cleaned her nose up, she was immediately greeted by her wife, Nozomi. If Eli had one reason to still be sane, it would be the woman that had eagerly ran into her embrace, just as happy to see her as the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. She even managed a troubled smile, but her facade remained strong.

 

“Elicchi, did you sleep well?”

 

Her smile faltered, “I slept well.”

 

She answered a little bit robotically, the words leaving her mouth before she had a chance to process them. But she gave her a kiss on the lips, before being interrupted by a servant, instructing her that her generals were calling her.

 

She pulled away from Nozomi’s embrace, missing the comforting warmth as she was pulled into another room, with four high ranking generals stood around it. She steeled herself before standing in front of the table with a map drawn out across a large piece of parchment.

 

“You called for me?”

 

“Yes my lady. Recently, the kingdom to the south has been mustering troops which we suspect may march up for an invasion. We wanted your input, we were struggling to come to a conclusion on our own.”

 

“I say that we aim to put up a defense around our territory. All of our troops put to this task would make for an impenetrable force, protecting our people and our kingdom.”

 

That general was General Tomoyoshi, a voice of reason amongst her generals. His proposal met a nod from General Nakano.

 

“And I say that the Southern kingdom has gotten far too cocky this time. We should teach them a lesson by marching our own army to attack. Raze their numbers. We have the manpower to do so.”

 

General Mori had crossed his arms over his chest indignantly, almost as if he was challenging the other two generals. General Ito seemed to agree with him.

 

Eli placed both hands on the table and let her gaze fall to the map, glancing over the locations of the mustered forces. She looked back up towards her generals.

 

But they disintegrated away into dust, leaving nothing in their wake as darkness fell upon the room and a chill forced its way up Eli's spine.

 

Then, on the opposite side of the table, were two figures, one looking mock-intently at the map whilst the other had her hands behind her back.

 

Two of the dreaded Seven Devils.

 

“This land's pretty big. Wonder what it would be like to rule over the entire thing?” One mused out loud, deliberately breaking the silence.

 

Eli stared blankly at the black haired devil who she had learnt to be Nico over the course of her restless nights, and soon she stared right back, grinning and bearing her fangs at her, “Don't tell me you've never been curious. I know all about what's in that little head of yours.”

 

“As do I,” The blue haired devil, Umi spoke now, “When one has power, they always need more… Don't they?”

 

She shot a piercing gaze at Nico, who decided she was innocent, “Hey, don't look at me! Besides, we're not here to talk about me, as disappointing as that is.”

 

Anything Eli wanted to say wouldn’t come out. But soon enough, Umi’s gaze turned to her, “You're right. But I get a feeling that she doesn't want to be talked about.”

 

“Hm? Well, what a shame,” She remarked with a shrug, “If I want to talk, we have to talk.”

 

“And I want to talk as well. It's two against one.”

 

Eli cleared her throat awkwardly and shook her head, “What do you want from me…?”

 

“Right, so,” Nico quickly began, “Your generals, right? They're idiots! Attack or defend, ugh, boring!”

 

“What else is there to do though?” Umi questioned, leading the other devil on.

 

“Good question! Now, I know that there is little else that can be done, y'know, but there is one less boring option.”

 

“And whatever could that be?”

 

“Attack, but not just attack. Burn, pillage, expand territory. That's exciting. If you defend you're just cowering. Not doing a lot. That's boring.”

 

“But what of your people, what of those under your protection?” Umi asked with a hint of uncaring in her voice.

 

“War comes with sacrifice,” Nico replied with a shrug, “There's always civilian casualties. Serves a higher purpose.”

 

“And what does our lady say to that?” Umi asked mockingly.

 

Eli steeled herself, “Stop this,” She hissed, “I won't bow to you or your will!”

 

“With all due respect _my lady_ , there's seven of us and one of you. Plus, you are a mere mortal. Power was handed to you on a silver platter.”

 

“And you two didn't have it given to you?”

 

“We,” Nico rolled her eyes, “Have been through more than you can imagine. You've never really gone through a lot of stress.”

 

“But we're not here to talk about our own toil and trials. It's all about you today. You have the power to overrule each and every one of your generals at once. They abide your will.”

 

“Let's be honest, both of the options suck. As I said, invade! Put forward another idea, jeez, you can’t let yourself be ruled by those people. I mean,” Nico waved her hand and an illusion of General Ito appeared opposite to Eli, “Look at this guy! God, I know he’s probably a good tactician or whatever you people tell yourselves when they promote people but he looks so dumb. A general cannot pull off clean shaven in this day and age, and if they can, it’s not this guy.”

 

“I don't think that insulting the generals is going to win her over, but you should consider what we're saying.”

 

Eli shook her head; this was how they functioned. They worked inside her head, into her thoughts if she even considered a little bit of what they were saying. They acted like simple suggesters and tempters, but they could influence her in ways Eli was afraid to find out how. She shivered.

 

“I'll think about it. Now will you two leave me?”

 

The duo didn’t say any more, vanishing in both black and dark blue smoke, before the room lightened and everyone came back into view. She tried to not appear too shaken, but it appeared that no time had passed to them. They still awaited her answer.

 

“Is there time to consider both the options?”

 

“Not a lot, but some,” General Nakano spoke, “If they advance, is the defense option what we should go with?”

 

“If the advance and if they advance alone. You’ll wait for my final order.”

 

They all nodded in respect as Eli turned to leave.

 

~

 

Throughout the day, Eli kept feeling consistent waves of nausea and dread. She was sick and tired of these beings tormenting her at every turn in her life.

 

It had started not too long ago actually. But she couldn't pinpoint any kind of trigger or catalyst to cause the event. She just put it down to a ridiculous amount of bad luck and being a ruler of a powerful kingdom.

 

Perhaps she had felt the influence long before then, actually? Perhaps before her wedding? Perhaps from the very moment she was born?

 

Maybe she was destined for this. To be subjected to a brutal torment for the remainder of her life that she felt was getting shorter and shorter by the day. But how could she confide her worries in anyone when they were all around her? When they were in her very home?

 

She didn't know too much about them. She knew their names, their appearances and their attitudes.

 

Umi and Nico were the obvious leaders. They appeared the most to her and taunted her the most. Nico had a penchant for ridiculing anyone close to her, and even Eli herself. And nothing could deter her venomous comments. Umi, although more reserved, had an air of high and mightiness around her. And in the cases she did mock her target, it hit close to them.

 

Then there were the other meddlers. Honoka sprang to mind at first. Even if she was especially lazy and she didn't do as she was told in the most often of times, Eli didn't know much more. And that scared her, if she was being honest to herself.

 

Eli would call Kotori more of a seductress than a temptress. Or were those the same things? She had a soft voice, but it had implicit and subtle undertones with every word she spoke. She worried more and more every time she appeared to her what she might be able to convince her to do, with nothing more than honeyed words and sweet nothings in her ear.

 

Whenever Eli had seen Maki, she was mostly unstable. She looked as though a hot furnace was constantly burning and creating a glow in her chest, spitting literal fire with her words and smoke billowing out of her, and the more her mood worsened or Eli fought against her, the angrier she got. She had the worst temper out of all of them and was often hostile towards the other devils as well. Even if Eli had only seen her in dreams and visions, she could swear the heat she felt off her was real.

 

Rin was… Odd. Amongst the world Eli had come to forcibly know, Rin didn't fit the normal description of a demon or devil. She was actually quite cheerful, but she warmed up to Eli in an unsettling way. If she could get past Rin's exterior, she was terrified at what she might find. And if Eli let her get past her defenses, who knows what she would do?

 

Hanayo fit into a similar category to Rin. But she was a lot more meek and a lot less sinister than the rest of them. The polar opposite to Maki, the devil never got angry, in fact, she seemed far more likely to cry than ever raise her voice at any given time. But Eli couldn't get complacent or place her trust in any one of them. If she did, it would surely be her downfall. 

 

~

 

“I think it’s really amusing how she puts up this fight,” Nico remarked, examining her nails, “She knows we’re like, in her mind, right?”

 

“It’s more to do with her honour. She’s stubborn.”

 

“Ehh, whatever, you were always better with this kind mental analysis thing.”

 

“She needs something to push her over.”

 

“What, and we’re not doing that enough already?” Nico threw her hands up, “Nightmares, nosebleeds, visions and other things aren’t enough?”

 

“No, no. I have an idea. Those can still continue though.” Umi said calmly.

 

“Idea? You know how much I love your ideas.” Nico leant somewhat awkwardly over the arm of her chair to get far too close to Umi for her comfort. Umi stifled a groan before she stood to get away from her fellow devil.

 

“We send one of us to the mortal realm and contribute to their power to continue to keep them there and make it so only Eli can see her. As long as we all put forward everything we can, she’s bound to push her over the edge. We would be able to do what we wanted with her.”

 

Nico thought over what she had said for a moment, pulling herself back up into a more comfortable position on the chair, “Mm… I like that. But which one of us could go though?”

 

“I’ll go and have a talk with her now.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Maki?”

The devil in question turned and Umi was pleased to see that the glow in her chest was steady and rather toned down compared to other days. She grunted in acknowledgment of Umi’s presence, and she couldn't help but notice the wisp of smoke that left the corner of her mouth.

“I'm here to run an idea by you regarding our dear Eli.”

Maki's chest flared a bit, “What is it?”

“I was thinking. We send one of us into the mortal realm and use our power to keep them there and basically, drive our dear ruler over the edge.”

“And you want my input?” She said, folding her arms.

“No, I know this'll go past everyone else. I want you to be the one that goes.”

Maki suddenly grinned and the furnace in her chest burned even hotter, for once out of excitement rather than anger, before she soon enough collected herself and the grin faded, letting out a long sigh, smoke pouring out from her lips.

“You think everyone else will agree?”

“Are you doubting me?” Umi asked, quirking an eyebrow, “They won't dare argue.”

“Mm… I suppose they won't. I'll go,” Maki's grin returned, “I won't let you down.”

~

Eli had noticed something. The devils were quieter than normal. More subdued. They hadn't even appeared out of the corner of her eye. Whilst she was thankful, dread washed over her; what if they were planning something?

But right now, she had a chance to take, to make a decision regarding her generals without her judgement being clouded, or at least, less clouded than normal. 

She sent for a servant to gather the generals, before she trudged into the room with as powerful a footstep as she could muster. The generals quieted immediately.

“I've come to a decision,” She stared down at the map, “We'll defend our kingdom and our people. We cannot afford not to. In my opinion, attacking is too high a risk.”

Her generals bowed to her and she was about to turn to leave when the room suddenly shifted and a wave of calm washed over her.

The cold tile of the war room floor had been replaced with a homely wood and various humble pieces of furniture dotted around it. She glanced out the window and saw flecks of snow falling, as well as icicles collecting above the frame.

She recognised this place. Her grandmother's home. Eli fondly remembered that the hardened woman had refused to move into a large castle when the bloodline was traced to find that she was related to royalty. She stayed there in her little cabin and Eli loved to come and visit… Until she had unfortunately passed away.

She wondered which one had brought her here and why. 

“H-how are you feeling…?”

That answered her question. The timid tone, the quiet voice, simply what she was saying. If Eli had been handed something to read the line off and guess which devil had said it, she would most certainly say Hanayo with confidence.

As polite as Hanayo was though, Eli wasn't in a mood to be particularly friendly. She grunted in response and firmly sat down on one of the old, creaky chairs and squeezed her eyes shut. She knew that Hanayo was sat next to the fireplace, currently emitting a welcoming and warm glow.

It only served to make her question as to why Hanayo was the only devil so kind to her. Well, Rin was too, but Eli seemed more inclined to trust Hanayo than Rin. Not that she could really trust any of them. But she couldn't help but feel that it wasn't an act or a trick, then again, that was probably what they wanted her to think.

Hanayo had never pushed her to do anything. Never tried to persuade her, never tried to intimidate or get her to consider anything important. It was almost a reprieve to her. Sometimes they just talked about little things. 

She was a meek thing, Hanayo was. It made Eli question what even qualified her to be a devil. She had horns, but they were short and blunt and stubby. She never showed her wings and her tail was hidden too. In fact, Eli wondered if she had either of those things.

“How is Nozomi-chan doing?”

Eli opened her eyes to scrutinise her expression quickly, but she decided to answer honestly.

“I worry that she's not taking to the intimacy change well… I want to make her happy, but…”

Hanayo sighed and fiddled with her hands in her lap, “I’m sorry…”

Eli shook her head and didn’t say a word, biting back saying anything nasty.

“So… Why bring me here?”

“O-oh well… You had good memories here, right?” Her expression was a worried one, as though she was thinking that she had gotten something wrong.

“Yes, I do.”

She slumped back in the chair, hearing its subtle creak as she gazed into the fire. She thought about the direct contrast to Maki's fierce furnace.

But that thought was cut unfortunately short when, in a puff of orange smoke, Honoka appeared, sprawled out on, somehow, the table that Eli was worried wouldn’t stand the weight.

But the initial shock was dampened when they noticed that she was fast asleep and just about to roll off the -

Honoka hit the floor with a thud, which took a surprising amount of time to draw a reaction. She groggily raised her head and glanced at the two in front of her, before rolling onto her back and laying her hands across her stomach, deciding that getting up was too much of a hassle. Eli and Hanayo stood up.

“So uh… This place is kinda boring. Then again the big black rooms with, ooh, looming darkness and basically nothing else are too… Umi-chan really seems to like those.”

Hanayo sighed and went to go and help Honoka up, which seemed to be the only way she would actually be getting up at all. Eli was busy trying to not let herself get too agitated by any comments Honoka made. After a bit of trial and error on both of their parts, Honoka was finally stood up, but propped up on the table.

“Oh! I just remembered. Umi-chan told me to tell you… Something. To go and see her, I think. That sounds right! She told Kotori-chan to tell you too, but she was ‘busy', so she kinda had to tell me. She doubted I would tell you though.”

Why Honoka thought they needed to know the extra bits, Eli didn't know, but Hanayo sighed and gave a quick glance to the obviously tired ruler, but she knew she couldn’t say anything comforting at all as she vanished in green smoke.

Eli gave Honoka a cautious glance, who only yawned and waved her hand dismissively, “Hey, I’m not gonna do anything… Maybe tomorrow, I haven’t decided yet.”

When Honoka shrugged, another devil pushed the door of the cabin open and Eli was a little bit confused as to why she didn’t just appear in a puff of smoke, but she couldn’t help but admit that she was quite pretty, snowflakes peppering her ashen hair and a slightly reddened nose. But Eli knew that it was merely a facade. It would all only be an illusion to make her appear more natural and, quite possibly, attractive. 

“Kotori-chan! Perfect, take over for me.”

“Oh, Honoka-chan…” She sighed languidly, “You have to do your part too.”

She shook her head, but Eli knew that she was likely putting on an act. Eli had learnt that she was very good at doing that and she loved to see how much she could confuse or toy with her. It was immensely wearing.

“Ehh, I know, but…” Honoka put on a puppy-dog expression, which Kotori chuckled at with a practised grin.

“Alright, alright. You run along now.”

“Thanks Kotori-chan!” With that, Honoka disappeared in an obnoxious puff of orange smoke.

Kotori ran a hand through her hair, half-circling Eli and giving her a rather uncomfortable touch on the shoulder before she went to go and sit opposite her.

When she saw Eli's tensed shoulders, she only chuckled, “Relax. Why don't you sit down? You'll feel better.”

There was a low purr in her voice, but Eli reluctantly sat back down, the creak in the wood rather comforting as she faced the flirtatious devil across from her. 

After a small pause, Kotori leant forward and Eli jolted when she felt her mind being probed, uncomfortable and unrelenting, her nails digging into and scratching the old wood of the arm rest. Kotori had the choice to do it covertly, but she had purposely done it that way. Umi could breeze through her mind without her noticing and Eli knew it was a way to break her down further. But it faded and Eli let out a sigh of relief as Kotori leant back with an amused smirk. 

“Intimacy problems, hm? Lucky for you, I'm an expert in those.”

The confidence Kotori displayed was remarkable to Eli, but she couldn't exactly dwell on that.

“I don't want your advice.”

“I offer more than advice, Eli-chan.”

Eli shivered at that. It seemed Kotori was an expert in discomfort as well, her voice dripping with poison laced honey.

She shook her head, “I don't want anything you have to offer.”

“Mm… Shame. Ah well, you're stuck with me until I decide to let you go.”

Kotori inspected her nails before she spoke again, “You know… I don't really like to spoil surprises, but I feel like you could use a bit of warning…”

Eli raised an eyebrow, which she hadn't really wanted to do. In demonstrating her curiosity, Kotori knew she had her caught.

“A little bird told me,” She laughed at the small pun for a second, “That one of us is coming to live with you.”

And with that little statement, Eli's blood ran cold. Even the very thought of it was horrifying enough, but if Kotori was telling the truth, she didn’t know how long she could last.

“Hmm…” Kotori stood and made her way leisurely over, ignoring Eli’s obvious discomfort.

“Who d’you think it’ll be? It could be me, couldn’t it?” She said, slowly running her nail down Eli’s arm, despite her twitch and tensed muscles, “I could be close to you for real. This is only a little illusion and this is only you being made to react to whatever we put in front of you. That would be interesting, right?”

“Maybe it could be Honoka-chan…? She’d probably just annoy you more than anything to be honest. Then again, maybe you haven’t seen enough of her yet?”

“What about Umi-chan? Someone like that with you all the time… I wonder how quickly she’d break you?”

“Nico-chan maybe? She’s bad enough in one of these scenarios isn’t she? I think it would be hell on earth for you.”

“Rin-chan?” Kotori clicked her tongue in thought, “Maybe. You never know what’s under the exterior of those types.”

“Ah, maybe Maki-chan… I don't think a lot needs to be said about that one, other than ‘good luck’.”

“Hanayo-chan… Well, I doubt it. You know what's interesting about her though? Her mind is really quite well guarded. Sometimes not even Umi-chan can get in there. Just thought I'd share that.”

With a drawn out and exaggerated sigh, Kotori stood and shrugged, “Or maybe I'm just bluffing about the entire thing! Ah… I have to be going anyway. Places to go, mortals to mess with.”

Kotori snapped her fingers and her clothing changed in a puff of smoke to something much more casual and distinctly more human like. Eli couldn't stifle her frown as Kotori stepped towards the door.

“Does the name Takahashi mean anything to you?”

Eli was reluctant to answer, but Kotori had already probed the thought from her head.

“He isn't very faithful, is he?”

The statement was vague; a question not asked to be answered, as Kotori opened the door and left amidst a flurry of snow.

And soon enough, the illusion melted away.

Takahashi was a nobleman of respectable capabilities, Eli had remembered. He was a generous donor to the church and had even taken in a few homeless people in his lifetime. Married, but with no children. Eli wondered what the devil meant by that, but she had to put that aside in favour of spending the rest of the day trying to put some rather horrifying thoughts out of her mind.

~

Hanayo was a little bit nervous. She had appeared in the room and was waiting for Umi to come back from wherever she was and from whatever she was doing.

She fiddled with her hands as she glanced around the room. It was surprisingly humble for someone like Umi, she thought. Even if the rooms could shift and change at the owner's will, Umi kept hers mostly the same. A stone floor, a desk, a crackling fireplace, and wood padding and furnishing the walls. 

She had little time to dwell on the homely decor as a dark blue mist swirled up on the chair and dissipated until Umi’s figure appeared, sat there with her arms crossed over the desk.

“Glad to see you're punctual unlike a certain someone… Do you know why you're here?”

“No…”

Her expression turned to more of a stern one, “You're here to be reminded of your place in the grand scheme of things.”

Hanayo flinched at the very tone she was using on her and she didn't dare look her in the eye. One thing Hanayo had learnt through talking to Umi was that she could keep her thoughts hidden from her if she kept them locked away, and it was difficult to do that if she was staring her in the face.

“Tell me, what do you think you're here to do? Regarding Eli?”

She had been told this; countless times, just to hammer the point into her mind. She sniffled.

“I'm… I'm the mediator.”

“That's right. You're there to keep Eli sane. To give her hope. Without you, she might give up. You are the doubt in her mind and the moment's reprieve from the rest of us. 

Hanayo nodded, taking in those words again. She made the mistake of looking Umi in the eye and all those thoughts were forcefully unlocked.

“You're having doubts.”

Umi raised herself from the chair and she circled round it to sit in front of her, perched on the desk, her expression cold and unreadable.

“You know your part in this. Why don't you want to play it?”

She narrowed her eyes when Hanayo stayed silent, but now that their gazes were locked, Umi could get more information.

“You're forming an emotional attachment,” She said, with a hint of disgust to her voice, “You know what happens in this event. You're to spend a night with Kotori. And I'm going to ask you one question.”

Hanayo was already scared at the very prospect of having Kotori do something to her, but she didn't like what the next question was to be.

“Are you sure you want to continue with this? It'll only be six devils and it would feel rather incomplete without you, but…” She gazed at her with a scrying expression, “Eli may be strong willed enough without a mediator. And it would be for the better to achieve our goals. Demons and fiends won't do well either so I can't draft one of those in.”

Hanayo couldn't help but feel as though she was being guilt tripped, but being far too meek to point it out, she shook her head, “I want to continue… It won't happen again Umi-chan…”

She didn't know why she was the only one to suffer about emotional attachment. She was attached to the rest of the devils, even Maki, whose words were unkind and her skinship was cruel. Perhaps the others were better at hiding any attachments considering their role in this grand scheme? Or maybe it didn't matter if they did, seeing as Hanayo was the only one who had to truly be kind, or well, act kind.

She couldn't help but feel it was somewhat unfair.


	3. Chapter 3

Nozomi had always felt strange supernatural things that others around her didn't notice. When she was younger, she felt the presence of her mother and father there for her, despite the fact they disappeared years ago and once, when walking through a graveyard on a simple walk, she saw a widowed woman being comforted by the spirit of her late husband, although she was oblivious.

But the constant malice surrounding Eli was outright scary. She daren't say a word though, as she knew this wasn't the simple matter of an angry poltergeist, restless ghost or misguided spirit. She had never felt something like this ever before and Eli seemed to be getting worse, or in the very least, that she was hiding something.

She sighed as she entered the dungeons, slipping past the cells towards the end.

Inside, a figure was pacing, hands forcibly chained up and with heavy looking sealing gloves locked in place by the shackles on her wrists.

Nozomi leant on the bars, not at all scared, “Ah, Yoshiko-chan. Or is it Yohane right now?”

“Ah-!” The girl startled, but calmed down when her eyes fell upon Nozomi, “Can't you tell the guards I'm not going to do anything?!”

“I can't do that, I'm sorry. I know you won't, but the problem lies with Yohane, does it not?”

She groaned and slumped on the wall, sliding down on it until she was sat on the floor.

“I know this is a difficult request, but… I need to talk to Yohane.”

“Are you crazy?! I'm not going to call her out on purpose!” 

Nozomi sighed and waved a guard over, “I'm sorry, but this is very important.”

“Forget it!” 

She went with the guard to Yoshiko’s things, finding her possessions, rifling through until she found a black feather. Even the aura that the feather gave off was threatening.

Nozomi had met Yoshiko before. An enthusiastic young teenager, who had made the mistake of getting far too into the supernatural things of this world and becoming possessed by a fallen angel.

They had met in the city cemetery near the outskirts, and Nozomi had become curious as to what she was doing there. She even sensed something within her that she couldn't quite put her finger on. She was even the one who had first noticed her possession.

It was with a heavy heart that Nozomi saw her imprisoned. A girl, soon to be a young woman, would be spending that transitioning time behind bars and in shackles.

She ran her fingers along the feather as she was allowed inside, but Yoshiko pressed herself up against the wall, “Wh-what?! I thought I threw that feather away!”

“Listen, Yoshiko-chan, I will make sure nothing bad happens to you, I promise. Yohane won't be able to do anything,” She reassured as the girl began to tremble, “I have to know something and I'm afraid only Yohane can help. Nothing bad will happen to you.”

Yoshiko glanced away and shook her head, “Fine… If… If it's what you need…”

Nozomi's expression softened, “I'm sorry…”

Yoshiko didn't say anything more as Nozomi put the black feather in her bun. This was something Nozomi had observed that triggered the manual possession, even though the fallen angel could jump in at mostly any time. Unfortunately, the prison had no time nor any money to spare regarding finding an exorcist skilled enough to get rid of the powerful influence.

Yoshiko’s body shuddered and she clearly winced as a pair of pitch black wings burst out of her back and the sclera of her eyes mirrored the colour of her wings, then jumping up on her feet.

“Who calls upon the fallen angel Yohane?”

The cell door behind her clanked shut and Nozomi sucked in a long breath, “I want to know something.”

“Oh? And what does a mere mortal want with Yohane?”

“Do you sense something in this world? In the castle above maybe? You're in the dungeons after all.”

“Hmm… And what if I do?” Yohane crossed her arms despite the shackles.

“Then I'd like you to tell me.”

“I suppose I have no reason to withhold anything…” The fallen angel hummed, “Alright! Listen, for Yohane will only tell you once!”

“I feel the presence of the Seven Devils!”

“Seven Devils?” Nozomi tilted her head and her brow knitted in worry.

“Correct! Of course, you're wondering who they are. Well, well… The Devils are dedicated, ruthless and cunning! And if they are, as I suspect, targeting your queen, then I am afraid she stands little chance of getting through this. I have never met even one of them, but I have heard of them many a time…”

Nozomi retained her frown, shaking her head, “Is there anything I can do…?”

“Well, they have all the typical weaknesses of demons and fiends, but I suspect they are not in this realm so those can be exploited… All you can do is pray. I unfortunately cannot tell you of their goals, but if they are to achieve them then they are likely to come to this realm at some point.”

“Ah…” Nozomi looked to the ground, “Thank you for your help…”

“Of course,” Yohane bowed, arms outstretched before her hand went to her feather, “If you'll excuse me, this cell is quite depressing so I would rather not stay longer than I am required.”

Nozomi nodded and took the feather after Yohane pulled it out. She caught Yoshiko as she fell and eased her down, her wings retracting and her eyes going back to normal.

“Ah… Yoshiko-chan, are you okay?”

It took a moment for her to respond, “Yeah I… I suppose I am. Did she tell you what you wanted…?”

“She did. Thank you. I know I can't really thank you properly, but…”

“It's fine… It's nothing anyway,” Yoshiko waved her hand and sat back, “I guess you have to be getting back then.”

“I'm afraid so.”

Without another word, Nozomi was let out of her cell, but she felt a deep regret for the fact that she couldn’t help the girl at all. She didn’t have the knowledge, nor the power for it. Maybe in the future, she would be able to find someone to exorcise the fallen angel’s possession out of her, but right now, Yoshiko would have to stay behind bars. She only hoped that she would be allowed to walk free one day.

~

Eli had been stood on the tallest spire of her castle to try and get away from, well… Everything. The fresh air and the overlooking of the peaceful kingdom did something to put herself at ease. But she should have known better; far better.

Seemingly, after one small blink, chaos had fallen. Fires raged, smoke rose and the castle below was crumbling and dilapidated. 

“I think it looks better like this, don’t you?”

She turned her head to see Maki beside her, gazing over alongside with a smirk on her face. Eli shook her head, “You have a twisted perception of the world.”

Maki growled, almost as if she was expecting Eli to agree with her, but Eli knew that was ridiculous.

“It doesn't matter what you think anyway,” She said with a shrug, Eli noting the calm glow of her chest, “All of this,” She swept her arm over, “Is coming closer and closer to becoming a vision of the future. It may already be.”

“You're trying to delude me.”

The deadpan in her voice caused the furnace to glow hotter, but the anger Eli expected was replaced with a smirk, “If that's what you want to think, that's the only delusion you're suffering from.”

“Tell me something,” Maki scoffed at that, but otherwise listened, “One of you is coming to my realm, aren't you?”

“Hmm? I don't know about that,” She lied smoothly, “Are you sure you're not paranoid?”

Eli grunted and rubbed her temple, “I think I have a good reason to be paranoid.”

“That is true, isn’t it?” Maki sighed and a stream of smoke left her mouth, but her mood appeared to take a turn from this surprisingly positive one for Maki, when a puff of yellow smoke revealed Rin, sat on the edge of the stone overlooking the city, swinging her legs like a child.

“Rin.” Maki acknowledged her with a dull tone, her chest flaring up alarmingly.

“Ah? Don’t be like that Maki-chan, nya!”

“Did I say I wanted you here?”

“Mm… No,” Rin said casually as she hopped up, whilst Maki looked tempted to push her off the edge, “C'mon Maki-chan, I wanna enjoy this too!”

Maki growled and folded her arms, “No. Go.”

Rin only shook her head, seemingly attempting to push Maki further. 

“You two…” Eli finally interrupted, “Can I ask something?”

“Depends, nya.”

Maki only grunted in begrudging agreement with Rin.

“Is one of you coming to the mortal realm?”

“Who did you hear that from?” Maki asked, not seeming very fazed at all.

“Kotori.”

“You think Kotori tells the honest purest truths the entire time, if at all? Her entire character is based on lies.”

Eli opened her mouth to retort, but closed it when she realised she had nothing to say. Maki did seem to be the voice of reason right now, ironically.

“She was probably doing it to get under your skin. You know how she is, nya.”

Eli was surprised to see the two agreeing with each other, only able to feel an immense sense of suspicion. But she didn't push it any further, deciding to doubt, but not voice anything. Maybe she was being paranoid?

Maki snapped her out of her daze, making her move to push Rin off the spire, but of course, Rin appeared back up there in another puff of smoke, as though she was expecting it to happen. Flames burned out of the corners of Maki’s lips, but she didn't do anything more.

“Well. We'll leave you to your fresh air.” Maki shrugged and in the next instant, the devils were gone and her kingdom the same. But she could only wonder how long it would stay that way.

~

Maki growled, bursting into Rin’s room, which was rather garish for her tastes and nearly tearing the hinges off the door. Thankfully, this entire place of residence was fire proof, otherwise God knows what would have happened.

“Rin?! What the hell are you doing?!” 

“Nya?!” Rin jumped up and dodged away from the swipe that came her way, “I don't see why you're so mad!”

“Because,” Maki grabbed a chair, hurling it towards her, “You know I like to do things alone!”

“But we have to work together, nya!”

“Then work with Hanayo, or Kotori, or Umi!” She threw whatever random items she could at her with each name, but Rin dodged them all, only making her more and more angry. Her chest glowed red hot. 

“You need to break out of your shell!” Rin protested.

“I don't need to break out of anything!” The furnace in her chest dimmed only slightly, “You interrupt me one more time,” Her chest flared, “And you will not come out the other side. Understand?!”

Rin nodded, not really feeling the threat behind it, but figuring it would cause her less trouble to just agree. And it seemed to work, as Maki turned and slammed the door without another word.

Rin sat back, jumping down from the shelf she had perched herself on, wondering why she even bothered.

~

How does one defeat a devil? A being known little about, a being that lived in another realm and a being with an unknown amount of power.

Nozomi found herself pondering that, as she looked towards her wife who was worsening by the day. She looked sunken and pale and ill.

And she was sure that the advisors and servants were noticing as well. It was becoming increasingly obvious that something was wrong with their fair ruler. They probably assumed that it was an illness and she wasn't surprised to find that Eli’s personal physician, Riko, had been called into the room.

Riko politely requested that Nozomi left the room, but Eli said she didn't mind. If anything, she probably deserved to know about her personal health.

“Alright… Well, I've been called in because people around the castle have been worried about your health. If you don't mind, I’d just like to run a quick examination.”

Eli glanced to Nozomi briefly, but nodded.

Riko specialised in healing magic, a former priestess by trade prior to coming to work under the crown. Nozomi wondered if she would be able to detect what Yohane had told her was the presence of the Devils, but she doubted it. Being out of touch with the church for a while and only being specialised in healing, meant that she probably wouldn't notice a thing, other than the fact her magic made no progress.

“I'll leave for a moment,” Nozomi stood, “Please excuse me.”

She smiled to Riko before leaving with a sigh.

In the room, Eli crossed her legs, “So, what do you think it is?” 

“Hmm, just from looking at you, I'd say something like a cold, but you aren't really coughing and sneezing, are you? Unbalanced humours perhaps? A lack of sleep? You really must make sure to keep healthy, my lady.” Riko frowned as she made her way forward, but there was a knock on the door Nozomi had left from.

“Please excuse me, Sakurauchi-san,” Eli stood and Riko bowed aside.

A messenger stood by the door, let in by Nozomi, who bowed to Eli, “My lady,” He stood back upright, “A case is awaiting your presence. Nobleman Takahashi has been murdered.”

Eli bit back her surprise, instead frowning, “Who are the suspects?”

“We only have one suspect. His wife.”

“His wife? You're sure?” Eli asked incredulously. She had met his wife on a few occasions and she seemed just as lovely a woman as Takahashi himself did.

“The details on the case await when you take your seat.”

She glanced to Riko, “I'm afraid I must attend to this. The examination can wait.”

Riko looked like she was about to protest, but she acquiesced, “As you wish.”

Eli followed the messenger towards the throne room, greeted by a crowd, of mainly rich parties, whilst Takahashi’s wife stood in the midst of it all in shackles.

Upon entering and taking her seat, Eli was handed a scroll detailing the murder. Takahashi had been poisoned, although by what was unclear and there was a witness, a simple servant who had recently been hired. She wasn't suspected, because apparently evidence proved she hadn't been present during the time of death. If she had to admit it, the evidence looked quite damning.

“So, Takahashi-san, you have been accused of the murder of your spouse,” Eli said, leaning back with a sigh, “What do you say in your defense?”

“Please, y-you have to believe me, I did no such thing!” She exclaimed, “My husband was a good man! Why would I kill him?”

The tone of voice she used truly made Eli want to believe her. She thought back to the rather cryptic message Kotori had said though. Maybe she was hinting upon the fact that she had caught him cheating. Then again, how would she know?

“Bring the witness forward.” Eli instructed, but she froze when she saw her.

The servant girl had ashen hair and amber eyes, but lacked the horns and the tail Kotori usually had on display, but the smirk she gave Eli was tell-tale.

She had to stop herself from freezing up, but she did visibly tense up as she watched Kotori put on a panicked and shaken expression which was likely to fool anyone in the room.

“What’s your name?” Eli asked cautiously, masking it as skepticism over the case at hand.

“Yamashita Umeko,” She said with practiced ease, bowing to Eli with what she thought had very little sincerity behind it.

“What is your testimony to this unpleasant event?”

“Well, I… I had been hired as I was just passing through and looking for temporary work, s-so Takahashi-san agreed to hire me for a brief period of time…” Kotori said, “About a week into my working there I…” She swallowed, wiping away some crocodile tears, “I found Takahashi-san dead in his workroom with a teacup beside him, spilled on his desk…”

Eli knew this was a barefaced lie, perhaps not how he had died, but rather her involvement. Maybe she had been the servant girl for the week, but she knew that there was no doubt in her mind Kotori had been the one to poison Takahashi. 

It was a horrific feeling to be powerless in her own kingdom, something she supposedly had entire dominion over. She couldn't just accuse Kotori either, knowing the outcry it would gain her. 

“And Takahashi-san acknowledges that Yamashita-san was not on duty and in the home in the time of death?”

She sighed, “Yes, of course… I wouldn't want to throw her to the wolves simply because things aren't looking good in my favour.”

Eli couldn't help but admire that. A woman of her class could easily frame a lowly servant girl if she wanted to, but her morality must have gotten the better of her.

“Then you must know you are the only candidate for murdering your husband that we have any idea of?” As much as Eli wanted to believe her, she knew that there was nothing else she could do. In fact, she did believe her, but she couldn't let her go. Sorrowfully, she watched the woman nod.

“I'm afraid with all the evidence, my hands are bound. I sentence you to life in the dungeons.”

The woman bowed her head and began to sob as she was taken off to the dungeons, whilst Eli turned back to Kotori.

“Yamashita-san… I apologise for your experience in my kingdom.” Her voice was guarded as she stood from her throne, “Please, accept my gratitude for your bravery in coming forward today.” She bowed her head and Kotori did the same.

“Thank you, my lady,” She raised her head, sending a smirk her way, “I understand this is no reflection on the rest of your kingdom.”

With that, the crowd began to disperse and Kotori had seemingly disappeared among it. Eli knew she didn't mean a word of her well-meaning and this was a way to twist her morality. 

And it was working. She had just put an innocent woman in jail for the rest of her life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my writing output has been increased by a fuckton now that i have a chromebook i hope to put out my works much faster and much more comfortably aaaAAAAAAAAAAAA

Hanayo knew that if there was one thing she had to make sure of, was that Umi couldn’t read her thoughts any longer. It turned out, Kotori’s treatment hadn’t quite worked (She used the term ‘treatment’ loosely), and she still felt rather horrible about Eli’s entire situation.

She had gone back to her room and stayed there, not wanting anyone to try and talk to her in this state, much less anyone that wouldn’t understand. But then, there was a knock on the door and as much as she wanted to tell them to go away, instead, she called out, “Who is it?”

“Rin, nya!”

Hanayo stood and went to open the door, as she knew that she couldn’t tell Rin to go away. She might have told Maki to, Kotori to, or even Nico too (Perhaps not Umi), but Rin was different. Strangely enough, it felt like the two of them could maybe be considered friends.

Rin pounced on her in a hug as soon as she was allowed into the room, “Nya! How are you?”

“I’m fine,” Hanayo lied, “What brings you here?”

“Rin just wanted to see how Kayo-chin was doing, is all!” 

Hanayo had often found herself puzzled by that nickname, but she had accepted it without any qualms on her part, although it did seem like Rin was a tiny bit worried she wouldn’t like it.

“How are things with Eli-chan coming along?” Hanayo asked carefully, wanting to get as much information as possible.

“It’s going well, nya! Me and Maki-chan saw her earlier!”

Hanayo knew that the term ‘going well’ was subjective, but she was sure that it meant that Eli was slowly breaking and she stifled a bite of the lip, instead nodding, “I see… With Maki-chan?” Maki must not have liked that at all.

“Yep! She did throw a few things at me afterwards though, nya… But Rin heard you had to go and spend a night with Kotori-chan… So that’s why Rin wanted to see how you were doing, nya!”

Hanayo didn’t exactly dislike Kotori, or any of the Devils for that matter. Perhaps she was scared of them, however. But fear and dislike were two different things, she thought. She saw them all as a strange, albeit dysfunctional family. Clearly, she would see Nico and Umi as the pivotal older sisters, whilst she, Rin and Maki were the younger ones. Maybe in an odd way she did look up to Nico and Umi and possibly Kotori. That did leave out Honoka, but then again, she was sure she wouldn’t be too offended if she regarded Honoka as not the best role model.

“Thank you, Rin-chan. But I’m fine.”

Rin was about to open her mouth before Umi appeared closely behind her, startling the both of them.

“Hanayo.”

“Y-yes?”

 

“You’re feeling well?”

Hanayo swallowed and avoided eye contact. She knew that she couldn’t let anything slip. “I’m okay, Umi-chan.”

“And our little problem is sorted out?”

“Yes.”

Umi eyed her suspiciously, but she nodded, Hanayo feeling the slight breeze through her mind, the tell-tale sign that Umi was having a quick look in there to put a rest to her suspicions. Hanayo kept her true emotions locked away and it seemed Umi hadn’t picked up on it.

“Right. Good. I trust you’re ready for this evening?”

Her stomach turned at the thought of the events of the evening, one wherein she would have to lull Eli into a false sense of security before the inevitable happened. Hanayo couldn’t control that, but she nodded, “Of course, Umi-chan.”

“Good.” Umi glanced to Rin before turning on her heel and making her way back down through the corridor.

“She’s kinda scary isn’t she, nya?” Rin said when she was sure Umi was out of earshot.

“I-I think that’s the whole idea…” Hanayo mumbled.

“Well! I should probably be heading off, nya! Good luck with tomorrow!”

“Th-thanks…” Hanayo replied meekly, honestly not wanting the good luck at all.

~

After Eli had gone through her checkup with Riko she had gotten the typical remedies that she offered, a bit of healing magic with a bit of bloodletting for good measure. With her humours supposedly balanced, she didn’t really feel that much better.

But she supposed that was natural, seeing as her illness was far more than something healing magic could fix. Honestly, she thought that she would need several highly trained exorcists for this job rather than a former priestess, not that she was doubting Riko’s abilities at all.

But that evening. was disturbingly quiet and Eli had come to mistrust the silence that was building up gradually, just about driving her mad with tension. She didn’t even know who she could trust; whos word she could take. Kotori’s? Rin’s, Maki’s? None of them seemed likely to be telling the truth, but at the very least one of them must be lying. And she was begging it was Kotori.

Then, in the blink of an eye, she was back in her grandmother’s cabin with the fire burning warmly and her sat in a rickety old chair that creaked with the homely and humble nature of the place it was located within. But as much as Eli wanted to sit back and relax, she found it far too difficult. Which devil had brought her here…?

Two puffs of smoke appeared on the chairs in front of her, revealing the form of Hanayo and Kotori in dark green and grey in tandem. She looked between the two of them to see a rather worried looking Hanayo and a leisurely Kotori. In fact, so leisurely she had a hand on Hanayo’s thigh.

She frowned and didn’t quite know how to respond to the presence in front of her, but thankfully she wasn’t the one who needed to do the talking at this point in time.

Kotori yawned, “My, my, I’m sorry this visit is late Eli-chan, but I’m afraid someone kept me up nearly all night…”

Hanayo glanced away embarrassedly at that and whilst Eli was curious, she was positive she didn’t actually want to know the details. It wasn’t like Kotori needed to sleep either.

“Plus the trial was just so stressful… Everyone around me was staring a-and really it was difficult to come forward with the truth…”

“... The truth…?” Eli was tempted to bite her tongue, but she didn’t want to leave that statement be.

Kotori hummed and stroked Hanayo’s thigh gently, as if trying to calm Hanayo rather than herself, “Of course it was the truth… You really think I’d tell a lie?”

“I don’t think you should ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.”

“That’s why,” Kotori shot back, “It was rhetorical.”

Eli shook her head, but Kotori ignored that, as Eli glanced to Hanayo for a moment, seeing her head bowed, as if she were guarded.

“Well, I figured I owed you a visit, one where I could be myself. Yamashita Umeko, the poor little servant girl, doesn’t exist here,” She said with a cheerful grin, “And after the trial I wanted to see how you were doing. After all, Takahashi-san must’ve been a difficult one to convict, as sly as she was.”

“Aren’t you the sly one? Didn’t you do it?”

“Didn’t you just say you shouldn’t ask questions you don’t really want to know the answers to?”

Eli narrowed her eyes at her, sitting back with a huff, “Talking to you is like getting blood from a stone.”

“Well, okay, fine,” Kotori raised her hands in a defensive manner, “I’ll be completely honest with you, no tricks, no lies, no nothing. I killed him. Yes, I know, it’s difficult to believe, horrible even, to face the reality, but yes, I laced his drink with hemlock. And framed his wife for it! It was a terribly tricky business to hide in the house and not get caught doing so, but I pulled it off in the end.”

Eli knew it was the truth, but she seriously didn’t want to believe that the truth was coming out of Kotori’s mouth at all.

“But y’know. Who are you going to tell? A devil invaded the mortal realm briefly just to murder a nobleman then disappear? Imagine the questions, the outrage and honestly, you’ll probably get put in an asylum and deemed unfit to rule. That’s the beauty of our existence. None of your mortal works speak of us at all!”

Eli knew that perhaps that situation of her being thrown in an asylum was a little extreme, but she couldn’t doubt it as a possibility. And the fact that the Devils themselves seemed to be non-existent posed more than a problem for her. She couldn’t even begin to think how many had been influenced before her.

“Does the truth feel better?”

Eli paused at that. No, it really didn’t. Besides, it wasn’t like she could just go and clear Takahashi’s name now. Nothing could be done.

“Of course it doesn’t,” Kotori said before she could say a word, “I know it doesn’t. A ruler having religious delusions is nothing new, but imagine if those were delusions were more based around the hellish side of things? People would surely take that the wrong way, no?”

Eli knew that and she wanted nothing more than to tell Kotori the same. But she held her tongue, shaking her head.

“Anyway, I have things to attend to, not murdering another noble, but things,” She said, standing and stretching her arms above her head and Eli felt all the more powerless just to let her go, knowing she could do nothing to catch the self-admitted murderer as she leaned down to give Hanayo a kiss on the cheek, eliciting some discomfort from Hanayo, before she turned and left out the wooden cabin door, “See you!”

Hanayo let out a sigh as she left, deflating on her chair before looking towards Eli.

“Do I want to know?”

Hanayo shook her head, “Probably not…”

“Right… Fair enough…”

“Anyway, how are you?” Hanayo asked, tilting her head. That was usually a good place to start.

“I could be better,” Eli sighed, “These days everything is overwhelming.”

“Yeah… I can understand that. I… I actually watched the trial.”

“Did the others watch too?”

“Umi-chan did and so did Nico-chan. The others didn’t.”

Eli almost felt like Hanayo was an informant, but she knew that she couldn’t entirely put her trust in Hanayo. With a sigh, she rubbed her eyes. It was disturbing to find that she was even considering putting her trust in her, but for some reason, she felt like it was the right thing to do, to have someone who was in the situation with her and someone who she felt like was also being used in a similar way with the others Devils.

Not that she was exactly secure in the knowledge that she was being watched just about twenty-four seven. Then again, she probably knew about that, just in the back of her mind.

“Well, I’m glad you enjoyed the show.” Eli said bitterly.

Hanayo frowned but didn’t make any further comments, “I’m sorry about Takahashi-san…”

“You don’t need to be sorry. If anyone does, Kotori and I do.”

“Why do you need to be sorry?”

“I sentenced an innocent woman to life in prison. I don’t feel particularly good about that.”

Hanayo knew she couldn’t just let her out of prison and truly, she couldn’t think to even suggest that she should try. 

Suddenly, the fire to their right flared alarmingly, causing the both of them to pull away with a start. And Hanayo knew what it meant, sending a worried expression towards Eli, who didn’t seem to pick up on it, “Was that… Was that you?”

She shook her head, “Nope… I-I don’t really have the ability or the need to do that…”

Eli scrutinized her for a second “...Maki?”

“Well… Who else could it be?” Hanayo said, averting her gaze from the tired ruler and instead looking towards the fire that hadn’t died down at all. 

Eli realised that Hanayo wasn’t being exactly straight with her for one reason or another, perhaps she didn’t want to think too deeply about the details so she simply left it up to Eli’s imagination.

But regardless, Eli felt a chill, rather ironically. And if there was anything she was worried about, was what Maki was planning, or really, what the rest of them were planning in addition. But she suddenly realised that it was probably something that Hanayo was a part of.

“Hanayo,” Eli started, seeing Hanayo look up at her with that same worried expression, “What’s happening here? I know that something is going on, Kotori told me, Rin and Maki denied it, please. You have to tell me.”

“What is it…?”

“Is one of you coming to the mortal realm?”

Hanayo paused at that, “W-Well… We can all go to the mortal realm, but only for a brief period and at limited power…”

“Hanayo,” Eli leaned forward, suddenly intimidatingly serious, something that didn’t seem to work with the rest of the Devils, “I need the truth. This is driving me up the wall.”

Whilst Hanayo didn’t want to go against the rest of the Devil’s plans, she figured it was too late now. She opened her mouth, before Eli felt a sudden heat behind her and the illusion twisted and left her feeling nauseous from the jarring change. Then, she felt a hand on the back of her chair and the heat moving around her side, seeing the glow over her shoulder.

“Well, Eli. Looks like I’m going to be here for a while.”

~

Maki’s journey to the mortal realm wasn’t exactly smooth, but she had made her way through a portal and out of the fireplace, which she admitted was rather awkward, but she was thankful Eli hadn’t seen that. It would probably make her arrival far less sudden and spectacular.

She detected the presence of magic in the room right away, not that she could pinpoint exactly what it was. She only hoped it wasn’t any kind of sealing or prevention ritual that would impede their progress. Then again, no one had caught Eli in the act of even telling anyone else about what she was experiencing. If anything, Maki was amused by the amount of power they had over the supposed ruler of this powerful kingdom.

Now, Maki was free to roam and do as she pleased so long as she stuck to Eli when she deemed necessary. It did kind of feel like Umi was her handler of sorts, but she supposed it was for the best. If it was up to her, she probably wouldn’t know what to do without anyone to tell her what to do. She was to keep an eye on Eli, but surveillance probably wouldn’t cease on the other Devil’s part.

So, she had decided to get a feel for the kingdom before she could put things into full swing whilst Eli was having a rather restless sleep. Thankfully, no one could see, as part of the magic keeping her anchored within the world. If she wished to appear, in whatever form she wanted, she could, not that she wanted to whilst she was exploring at this current state.

The first thing she noticed was how close the castle was to the church and how she thought it to be odd Eli didn’t visit too often. Even since the start of their watching of Eli, she had only been there a handful of times. Perhaps she was too busy, or worse (for Eli), losing her faith.

But that didn’t matter for now. She couldn’t enter the church, so instead, she settled for going further into the kingdom.

The knew a little bit about the world around them, but it never hurt to explore what they didn’t know. She had found that past the main city, there were individual towns, many with bustling markets and a few with seaside ports. Although she did have to retain a semblance of care around some of the temples and churches she came across, all seemed relatively normal, even amidst the problems their ruler was having. Then again, they were likely oblivious.

Whilst she was tempted to cause a bit of trouble, she knew that a low profile would be a good start. She would have plenty of time in this world to do as she wished when things had inevitably gone their way. 

So, she had gradually made her way back to the castle, working her way past the doors, through the guards (selectively invisibility had its advantages), and back just in time for morning. But if there was one other person she was suspicious of, it was Eli’s wife. She didn’t quite know how to put her finger on it, but there was something about her that she thought might pose a problem, even if she didn’t quite know what that problem would be.

In fact, when she had first entered the room, she saw her, Nozomi, the thought, suddenly wake up and she could have sworn she looked right at her. But then, it changed to looking straight through her and eventually, she had gone back to sleep. She couldn’t think about it for too long though, she needed to be with Eli when she woke up. So, she slipped into the room and waited.

~

Nozomi had felt more than a subtle chill when she felt _something_ enter the castle, something that she had no idea what it was, when she suddenly remembered what Yohane had said. She could only imagine that this wasn’t anything holy, but rather than opposite. Judging it for herself, she thought that it was one of the Devils. It had to be, surely. 

But now that one of them was here, what was she to do? What did they want?

She was having a restless night, one where she couldn’t seem to fall asleep, far too disturbed by the presence she felt. The ability she seemed to have was proving to be more of a burden as of late.

Then, the door creaked open and she bolted upright, almost as though she expected Eli to be coming through those doors, but the aura around her was far more sinister.

And she could see her briefly, very briefly, catching sight of the glow in her chest and the red hair, but very little else. She had a few tell-tale signs about her that gave away her status, the tail, the horns; the wings.

But she seemed to disappear a few seconds after the laid eyes on her, but she realised how much she didn’t want to give away that she knew something was amiss regarding something of a supernatural origin. She felt her presence move, before she decided it would be for the best for her to pretend like she hadn’t seen a thing, settling back into her bed.

The next day, though, Nozomi greeted Eli in the way she had done so every morning, but she still felt that presence. In fact, she had seen another brief flash as the being had followed her in leaving the room, but she ignored it once again.

“Elichi, I’m going to be going out today, I want to browse one of the markets,” She said, arms around her neck as Eli’s arms slid around her waist, “I’ll try not to take too long.”

“Alright,” Eli smiled a little bit tiredly, “I wish I could come with you.”

“I understand that you can’t,” Nozomi said, nuzzling a kiss on her cheek, “Even I have to be careful, no?”

“Yeah… They had to arrange specific visits for me with extra security and everyone swarms me and, ah… You know how it goes.”

Nozomi nodded, “I’ll pick up something for you.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Eli said, her expression softening, “I’m just happy you’re doing what you want to do.”

Nozomi chuckled, “Alright, alright. I’ll be going out quite soon then.”

~

Nozomi had shortly thrown on a cloak with a hood and she could only thank the weather that it was a little bit colder than any normal day she would have gone out.

So, she left the castle and went to the stables, retrieving her brown horse she had come to affectionately name Tarot. The name reminded her of her teenage years when she had struggled to make a living as an orphan. But she had had a talent for tarot readings, taking her mother’s old pack that was left to her and learning quickly. She had always felt the presence of her mother when giving a reading and that was what had driven her to continue.

In fact, it was also how she had met Eli. The girl had been worrying about her future, her family and just about everything a young girl could struggle with. After reassurance from the cards, she had left, only to return with another question.

Did she have a claim to anything grand?

Even if it was something as miniscule as a connection to a little known of noble or anything like that, even if the question was vague or perhaps vain, Nozomi had received the question and the cards had revealed to her something surprising.

Eli did indeed have a claim to something larger than herself. Although the cards didn’t reveal quite what it was, it was definitely something huge. If she was honest, she could have felt it the moment she met Eli.

The next step was figured out what it was. Then, one day, at the age of eighteen, Eli had had a knock on her door from the royal protectors, only to find that she was the oldest living connection to the crown. With her parents out the picture, Eli was somewhat forced to take the burden of royalty. Her sister helped alongside her, but she could only do so much to help with the responsibilities.

Eli still came to visit. She still asked her questions and spilled her doubts that she wasn’t as good of a ruler as everyone would expect her to be and Nozomi was there to reassure her. Even if it was difficult to lift her worries, she’d do so even if she didn’t use the cards.

Nozomi smiled at the thought of the young woman she had met and come to know so well over these years and someone she had eventually come to love. It had come as a surprise to everyone, including Nozomi herself, when Eli came to want the poor, orphaned fortune telling girl rather than some rich potential suitor to aid foreign diplomacy.

And so, they had come to live together in the castle until this whole business began. It had been sad to watch, more than sad, for Eli to become victim to something that was horribly unfair to her and now it was ten times worse. A literal devil was following her around and Nozomi didn’t know what she could do.

She only hoped she could take her wife’s mind off things, although that was seeming less and less possible by the day.

She took Tarot down the road and out of the city, heading towards one of the seaside market towns, being thankful that no one seemed to recognise her. Even if this was to partially get away from the malicious presence, she still couldn’t tear her thoughts away from the struggle her wife was going through. She could just stand and leave, the assault wasn’t aimed at her, but Eli couldn’t.

But if there was one thing she was sure of, it was that there were other people in the world like her, people who were attuned to the otherworldly and had sensed the devil’s arrival, there was no way they couldn’t. This trip was to see if she could find anything out as she headed back to her old town and back to the temple she was raised in after her parents unfortunate disappearance.

After tying her horse up beside the building, she pat Tarot on the side and headed up the steps towards the open doors, pulling her hood down as she knew too much of a big deal wouldn’t be made here about who she was.

“Hello?” Nozomi called, before a woman poked her head out from behind a sliding screen.

“Non-tan, whilst it’s good to see you, I don’t condone the loud usage of your voice in here,” She said, shuffling out, “If you still lived here, you’d get a good slap on the wrist.”

“Ueda-san,” Nozomi said with a laugh, knowing it was all in jest, “It’s good to see you too.”

Uede smiled as she made her way over, enveloping Nozomi in a hug. Nozomi saw her as more of a grandmother than a parent, but that didn’t stop her from loving the woman in front of her. She was quick to punish and perhaps a little harsh, but Nozomi wouldn’t have had her any other way, knowing the meant well for her.

“I just thought I should come and drop by. I haven’t seen you in a while after all.”

“Yes, I should give you a slap on the wrist for that as well,” She said, “Come through, come through. I have tea in the back room.”

“Yeah? Do you have some other visitors?”

“I do indeed. One’s an exorcist and I think the other is a friend perhaps. They’re from the next kingdom over.”

“Ah?” Nozomi said, raising an eyebrow, “What are they here for?”

“I’m not too sure if I’m honest. You can probably ask them yourselves, I’m sure they won’t mind. Just don’t be rude, eh? We are representatives of our kingdom.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Ueda-san.”

Ueda led the way and soon Nozomi was face to face with two women, a bit younger than her, but she smiled to the both of them.

The first had dark blue hair and purple eyes, the second was blonde and with yellow eyes. They both stood and bowed their heads politely, and Nozomi could guess that the exorcist was the more well built out of the two of them, not to disparage the other.

“Nozomi-chan, this is Matsuura Kanan and Ohara Mari.”

“Nice to meet you,” Nozomi said, bowing her head, “I hope you’re enjoying your time here.”

“Of course,” Kanan nodded, “But I am here for business.”

“Unfortunately,” Mari sighed, “Very little time for pleasure, eh Kanan?”

“Well, yes. But, I must say, neither of us were expecting to meet any royalty during our visit, really.”

Mari shook her head, “Nope.”

“Well, stranger things have happened I assume.” 

“Yes, definitely,” Mari laughed as the group settled around the kotatsu.

“So, what does actually bring you here?” Kanan asked, tilting her head.

“Ah, well,” Nozomi glanced to Ueda, “I grew up here.”

Kanan nodded, not prying any deeper.

“What about you two? What brings you two here?”

“Well,” Kanan leaned her elbows on the table with a quiet sigh, “There’s just been trouble nearby, a girl is worried about her older sister and they used to know us. I won’t say who they are, but she wanted a trustworthy exorcist to see if there truly was a problem. But…”

Mari glanced away for a second, “There was something rather worrying that I sensed last night upon our arrival by boat… It was very strong.”

“Ah?” Nozomi quirked an eyebrow, “You can sense these things?”

“Yes, yes, ever since I was a young girl. It was a rather strange thing, my father was possessed when I was conceived.”

Nozomi masked a startle at that, by extension were one of her parents possessed during the time of her conception? It wasn’t something she could entirely rule out. But she couldn’t think about that right now.

“That’s convenient,” Nozomi said, taking a sip of the tea Ueda had prepared, “I… Well, I can sense those kinds of things too. And I can tell you I sensed the same thing.”

“Oh! Well, do you know what it is?”

“Well…” Nozomi paused and glanced between the two of them, “Have either of you heard of the Seven Devils?”

Kanan frowned, “I’ve heard of them, but they’re so obscure knowledge is little to none. I don’t even think there are any written works on them. They’re only myths, really, but some things have been said here and there. Probably Chinese whispers by now though.”

“So you’re suggesting,” Mari swallowed, perhaps a little bit nervously, “That there are literal devils behind this?”

“I’m afraid so.”

“What can we do?” Kanan suddenly asked, all business.

“First, I’d like to know a little about them, if that’s possible at all.”

“Well… I don’t know a huge amount, as I said. I’ve only been able to catch snippets here and there, but I’ll be honest, I mostly dismissed it. According to my father whom I trained under, all witnesses of them are either dead, or their written accounts have been destroyed. By what, well… I can only imagine it would be the Devils themselves.”

“Anything on their origins…?”

“Well… There are conflicting stories. But my father tells me they were human originally, but made a pact with Satan, although I can’t really be sure,” Kanan sighed, “I’m sorry… I really don’t know much about them individually either.”

“What about a red haired one?”

Kanan frowned, “Well, I couldn’t name her… I can’t put descriptions to name, even if there is only one of them with that characteristic. How do you know all this anyway?”

“I saw… Well, I saw her briefly. It was only a small flash, almost as if her guard only went up when I entered the room or someone other than Elichi looked at her…”

“Elichi… That’s a cute nickname,” Mari commented, “But you really can’t mean-”

“I’m afraid I do.”

Nozomi cut her off, maybe a little bit rudely, but no one was in any mood to call her out on it, other than Ueda who smacked her on the back of her hand, “Non-tan, I know this is a delicate issue, but that’s no reason to interrupt. But ah,” She stood up, “This isn’t an issue an old lady like myself needs to hear of. I’d rather live the rest of my days in blissful ignorance. If any of you three need anything, feel free to ask, I’ll only be in the other room.”

With that, Ueda left the room, surprisingly light on her feet and the trio glanced at each other in turn.

“Well… She is an interesting woman.”

“You’re telling me,” Nozomi chuckled, “The oldest people usually are the most interesting. People just don’t tend to ask.”

“That is true,” Mari hummed.

“But I think we need to get back to the subject at hand.” Kanan sighed, taking a sip of her tea.

“Yes,” Nozomi nodded, “I’m afraid something’s been happening to Elichi lately. And now there’s a devil following her around, I’m afraid.”

“Do you know anything else…?”

“No… It only happened last night after all. I couldn’t tell you what they were doing to her before though, but… I think she’s been suffering from nightmares. She’s been waking up with nosebleeds too.”

“Mm… Not a possession then.”

“I think if they wanted to possess her, they would’ve done it by now, as much as it hurts to admit. They must have something bigger planned for her. But, well, the problem is I don’t want to arouse any suspicion by bringing an exorcist to the castle. It might speed up whatever they’re planning to do.”

“Yes… I understand. But this is definitely a useful thing to know. At the end of the day though, we still have a job to do,” Kanan said, “We’re only staying here briefly.”

“This news should be spread, but covertly,” Nozomi said, finishing off her tea before continuing, “We shouldn’t create a panic kingdom-wide and then world-wide. I’m worried what’ll happen if this gets out to too many people or if the Devil’s plans speed up.”

“I’ll probably go to my father with this and discuss this after I’ve finished with the job at hand.”

“That sounds perfect. If anything goes wrong or whatever their plan is begins, where can I contact you?”

“Well… Over the next couple of days, we’ll probably be at that job… We really shouldn’t be disturbed. But I’ll give you the address in the Chūgoku kingdom of where you can contact us.”

Kanan then took a piece of parchment, a quill and a pot of ink and scribbled down an address, handing it to Nozomi, “I know the message might not arrive in time, but… Never late than never, eh?”

Nozomi took it, skim reading the address before nodding and putting it in a pocket, “Ah well… Thank you. But I can’t be staying here all day. I should probably be getting back to the castle soon.”

“Of course, we can’t expect the queen to stay with the commoners all day,” Mari said with a laugh, “No offence intended of course.”

“Of course not, but sometimes, staying with ‘the commoners’ is indeed nice from time to time. You go a little stir crazy if you’re cooped within the castle walls.” Nozomi stretched her arms above her head and stood up, moving into the next room to say her goodbyes to Ueda and head out into the market.

~

“Do you think that Maki-chan will be fine out there?”

“Yes. Why? Are you unsure?”

“Well,” Nico aggressively bit at her thumbnail, avoiding looking directly at Umi, “I guess. She’s not exactly stable.”

“Well, we’re not looking for stability. In fact, I suppose none of us are really stable.”

“I know that,” Nico groaned, pacing, “I’m talking, like… Do you think she’ll be able to pull off what we want to do?”

Umi frowned and narrowed her eyes, but Nico shook her head and slapped herself on the cheek, “Hey, hey! I know that look! Get out my head and stay out!”

Umi shrugged, but her expression didn’t change all that much. Nico was worried for a moment that she had caught onto what she was thinking and if she did, she appeared to hide it.

“Sometimes even we have to remain optimistic,” Umi stated, “Doubts must be hidden and purged. If you are to succeed, you have to be sure of yourself and those you rely on.”

“You mean… You rely on us?” Nico asked incredulously.

“No. Rely is too strong a word for my attitude towards the rest of you, you are only a means to an end.”

Nico was a bit taken aback, “You’re awfully blunt.”

“Would you rather I lie to you? Would you rather I spout falsities at you and make you think I was someone I’m not?” Umi shook her head, “That behaviour would be disgusting.”

“What do you think of Kotori then?” Nico asked, managing to plant herself back down on her chair with a leg that wouldn’t stop jumping up and down.

“She is an exception to the rule, as… Deviant as she is. If you have no character of your own, then you cannot possibly falsify yourself. Everything you say about yourself, if you live up to it, is no lie. Kotori is clever enough to not say a lie she can’t live up to, yet her own personality is borderline nonexistent. The very basis of her being is a lie.”

“What,” Nico remarked with a dry laugh, “You can psychoanalyse all of us now?”

“Well, do you want me to? I am rather bored and your reactions do amuse me.”

“Alright. Try me.”

Nico knew she wouldn’t sugarcoat her words and she couldn’t deny that she was curious as to what Umi thought of her and she watched as Umi huffed out of her nose and sat back on her chair, collecting her thoughts.

“You,” She began, “Are like me in some ways, but we are so far apart. We have the same goals, all of us do, but the difference is, you care. For whatever reason, you care. At the end of the day, Nico, we could achieve our goals but have the other Devils fall in the process. You would be remorseful, I would not.”

“I-I don’t care that much!” She protested.

“I am speaking. Do try and not interrupt. You wanted this after all.” Umi deadpanned, leaning forward and placing her hand underneath her chin slightly boredly, “The world above, to you, is a way to prove yourself. Validation, to you, is necessary, be it from yourself or the others around you. Even with what we are, there is still a part of you that is annoyingly, positively human. Not even Satan could change that about you. But humanity is not a blessing. It is the opposite among the world above and we will rid it of that, make no mistake.”

Nico swallowed, not sure exactly what to say. Umi had spouted more than she knew about herself, which was deeply worrying, if she were to admit it. She felt a small breeze in her mind and Nico smacked the side of her head.

“I said, stay out! What don’t you understand?!”

“You were taking too long to react so I believed that your thoughts would be more interesting than your words. In fact, thoughts are always more interesting that words.”

“If I catch you in my head one more time-”

“Then I just have to make sure you don’t catch me.”

“Gh-! What the hell is wrong with you?!”

“Absolutely nothing. Just because I’m different from you, you think there’s something wrong with me and that speaks volumes.”

“Okay, now you’re just twisting my words,” Nico said, standing back up with a stomp, “You’re way too much to deal with sometimes.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment, if anything.”

Nico rolled her eyes, “Whatever.”

“But, regarding your doubts about Maki,” Umi started, ignoring Nico’s apparent protest, “She’s there now and we’ll be keeping her there. If she proves to not be up to the job, then we’ll simply bring her back. There are seven of us, therefore, six more of us have the ability to take over, although that is a best case scenario…”

Nico was about to leave the room before she turned back around, “Umi… Why didn’t you go? Surely you’d be the best candidate for this kind of thing.”

“What,” She said with a dry laugh, “And leave the rest of you to do your own thing? Honestly, Nico, you have to face the fact that without me down here you don’t have a proper leader and planner. You’re a second to me, but really, could you orchestrate this?”

If Nico was honest, she was more than a little bit offended. Then again, she couldn’t exactly deny the trouble she might have if Umi wasn’t here. She sighed and turned, leaving the room without another word.

~

“What exactly do you want from me then?” Eli said, locking the door to make sure no one wandered in during their conversation. If someone caught her talking to what was apparently thin air, then she could only imagine the reaction, especially with the royal physician being called in only a day prior.

“What, we finally have some one on one time and that’s what you ask? You really can’t really expect me to just spill everything.”

“It’s worth a shot…” Eli murmured, taking a sip of her tea.

“Isn’t it customary to offer guests a drink?”

“You are not a guest,” Eli said, eyeing her, “You haven’t been let in here out of my free will, you forced your way in.”

“True, true,” Maki acquiesced, “I’m not bothered about a drink anyway.” She waved her hand dismissively.

“What are you going to do here?”

“I dunno. Follow you around, freak you out a little maybe,” Maki lightly jested, “But seriously. Why would I tell you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you feel sorry for me?”

Maki let out a laugh at that, a flame briefly billowing out of her mouth, “If I felt sorry for you, or if any of us felt sorry for you then we wouldn’t be doing any of this.”

Eli was about to open her mouth and ask what Hanayo’s motivations were, before she decided it was better to not do that at all. If Hanayo truly was on her side and could potentially be trusted, then she didn’t want to put any suspicion on her.

“Good point… But still, whatever you have planned… Know I won’t go down without a fight and neither will this kingdom.”

Maki sat back with a grin, “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”


	5. Chapter 5

Nozomi headed back quickly enough after giving her gift to Eli, a box of chocolates produced natively within the town. It was expensive, as it was mainly seen as a luxury, but Eli seemed to brighten up very much so upon receiving it. Nozomi knew that Eli had expressed on numerous occasions it was her favourite.

She had once again seen a flash of that mystery redhead, however. And she had no idea what she was to do. The exorcist she had met wasn’t really an option to call, although it was a useful contact to have, even if they were a kingdom over.

But now she herself was starting to lose sleep. A lack of intimacy and a looming worry was constantly hanging over her, for her wife and things didn’t seem like they were going to change without action. But what could she do?

She knew that Eli didn’t want to see her suffer as well, especially over something that she likely felt was her fault, even though her being followed around by these beings weren’t her fault at all. So, she had to hide it, simply long enough until she could figure out a plan and she only hoped that would be before the Devils struck.

~

It was another night in the castle and whilst Nico was busy plaguing Eli’s dreams, Umi had called upon a brief illusion to communicate with Maki.

“Umi,” Maki had hummed as the room shifted to appear as though it was in Umi’s office of sorts, “How are you?”

Umi eyed her but decided to entertain her formalities, “I’m feeling well. I trust things are going fine?”

 

“Mmhm. So, what’s the next step?”

Umi didn’t let it show on her face, but she didn’t exactly appreciate the lack of personal intelligence and drive on Maki’s part. So, she rolled her head on her shoulders, “You know we need to tear down some of the barriers within this world. Namely churches and temples, as we cannot step foot on hallowed ground. But that doesn’t stop us from being able to do harm,” Clearing her throat momentarily, “There are two ways you can go about this. One is an individual effort, the other would require more of a group effort.”

“Give me the individual one first.”

“Because of your… Inherent destructive abilities, shall we say, you can spark the flames. If your hellfire is powerful enough, the temples and churches will burn. If not, well… You may just cause a stir.”

Maki huffed out some smoke through her nose and decided to deliver a kicker of a question, “Do you think I can do it?”

Umi thought quickly and on her feet. Although she harboured her doubts, of course she did, she took her own advice. Hide her doubts and then purge them.

“Of course I do. Why else would I pick you for this job?”

“Because, you need Nico to plan with you, Honoka, if given the choice would sleep for the rest of her life, Kotori does her own thing and is honestly a wild card, you’re needed here, Rin is just plain odd and Hanayo is the mediator, not the aggressor. Does that cover everything?”

“Are you implying that everyone else is mostly unreliable?” Umi said, quirking an eyebrow and surprised at her flash of intuition.

“Well. If you want to take it that way, I don’t care,” Maki said casually, examining her fingernails.

“Whilst you are mostly correct with your analysis, I suppose you could call it, none of us really have the potential to burn down holy buildings.”

Maki nodded skeptically, but didn’t comment on that. Instead, she settled back again, “What about the group effort?”

“We’re all doing our part,” She chastised, “But you’re suited to this task, I trust you will rise to it. The second part of what we’re doing revolves around things going all according to plan, until eventually all barriers above will weaken and we can begin to gain control on the surface.”

“Is that it?”

“That is it,” Umi confirmed with a sigh, “You’re free to go back.”

Maki gave one final nod before the illusion began to fade and she was back within the room after a brief bout of disorientation at the light ticking of the clock and the dull embers of the fireplace, she smirked and rose from her seat. 

She would set the spark to catch the fuel alight.

~

Eli was given a rather rude awakening the next day, not just by rampaging nightmares or a soul crushing sense of dread, but also by a panicky priest, who had to be physically restrained, according to the servant who had ordered for the man to be dragged out before he could rouse Eli from her sleep.

But, Eli made herself decent and headed out into the main room, where the priest was still clawing at one of the doorframes and shouting something about supremely important news. Eli approached and the guard’s slackened their hold as the priest looked to her, having lost the words briefly, before shaking his head.

“I trust you have a good reason for barging in here so early?” Eli asked, not necessarily coldly.

“Yes, I do,” He said firmly, “There’s been an incident… I’ve been travelling - please hear me out, your majesty!”

Eli frowned for a moment, especially when she saw Maki out of the corner of her eye appear and sit down nonchalantly beside the unlit fire pit.

“Proceed.”

“Thank you. One of the churches on the outskirts of the city burned to the ground last night and as you should know, those buildings are supposed to be completely protected against instances such as this!”

“That… Is indeed true. Do you have any idea what happened?” Eli asked, a sense of dread rising in her chest.

“Very little. We noticed the flame when it was far too late, but anyone more attuned to the supernatural could sense something beyond the likes of anything else we’d ever come across before. Malevolence was the main feeling...”

Maki cleared her throat, “Do you think he’s talking about me?”

Eli resisted the urge to glance in Maki’s direction; to everyone else it would look strange to gaze at an empty space, or even glare.

“I will bring this to the attention of the various supernatural societies, thank you for coming.”

“Y-your majesty! Please, mark my words, this is something far more than just a fiend or a demon trying to simply make trouble,” He said, bowing, “If this happens again, something big is coming.”

 _‘Something bigger than you and I can imagine.’_ Eli thought with a sigh, but she nodded respectfully and gestured for the guards to escort him out.

“Wow,” Maki hummed, “I would have had that priest executed for interrupting my sleep.”

“Well thank God we’re not all you,” Eli remarked dryly when she was sure no one would hear her.

“Yes… Things would be boring.”

Eli rolled her eyes and sat herself down near Maki, “You burned the church down then?”

“Mmhm, of course I did,” Maki did a slight mock bow in her seat.

“Why though?”

Maki paused for a moment, as if mulling over her response, “Does it matter?”

“It does,” Eli insisted, “I get that you don’t want me putting together the pieces of what you’re doing, but this has to mean something.”

“If I told you I just wanted to have some fun, would you believe me?”

“I would and wouldn’t. It would probably be fun for you and for some greater reason.”

“Mmhm, you’re not wrong. You know… You’re fun to poke at. See what makes you tick. I guess we wouldn’t be doing this if you weren’t the ruler of this kingdom, but if I was a smaller time demon.”

“You’re a demon?” Eli raised an eyebrow.

“Technically, no. In a sense, yes. I might as well be a complete enigma to you.”

“Enlighten me?” 

Maki narrowed her eyes, judging whether or not she should actually disclose information. Then again, who would she tell? Any writings could be disposed of and if she came forward about any of this, her mental well being would surely be questioned. Then again, knowing your enemy was a viable tactic. But lulling Eli into a false sense of security didn’t seem too hard, if she thought she could coax information out of them.

“Depends on what you want to know.”

“Were you human? You look human.”

“We were once humans,” Maki answered nonchalantly, not pushing any more information.

“Anything you can add onto that…?”

“No.”

“Right… Why did you pick me? You could have picked any kingdom.”

“Well, you’re the best connected to you kingdom and its people, not to mention you’re married. Easy to exploit.”

Whilst Eli wasn’t exactly enjoying the answers she was receiving, she knew she would rather be getting answers than not at all.

With a sigh, Eli posed her next question, “What is your goal? You don’t have to reveal your plan or anything.”

“Even the end goal gives it away,” Maki raised her hands defensively, “Sorry, can’t say. Umi would get mad at me.”

“And she spearheads this entire thing?”

“Pretty much. She’s… A bit of a hardass, but she gets the job done.”

Eli racked her brains for another question, but soon enough, Maki appeared to grow tired of answering.

“No more questions, that’s as good as you’re going to get. I’ve probably already said too much to be honest.”

Maki rose up from her seat and shrugged, especially at Eli’s slightly annoyed expression. Even if Eli felt slightly better about not being so left in the dark, there was still only the sense of a dim candle with a thin flame in the distance that threatened to be extinguished at any given moment.

“Anyway, you have things to attend to, right? Don’t stop me from allowing you to do that.”

Eli grunted non-commitally, rising up from her seat. Maki was more of an annoying presence to deal with than a terrifying force of evil trying to do something that was wasn’t even sure of. Burning buildings down didn’t seem like something that could bring about that many problems. Then again, these were holy buildings, supposedly protected by God Himself. She could only bring herself to worry about how much power they held.

~

“Is something wrong, Mari?”

“Mm…” Mari turned over, a slight grogginess in her eyes and tone, “I couldn’t tell you what it is.”

Having been granted passage to the next kingdom over, they had spent their day travelling to the mansion and home of a close friend and her sister, they had been allocated a place within the guest bedroom.

“Can I have a clue?” Kanan asked, just a tad concerned for Mari’s wellbeing, even though she knew she could handle herself.

“Well… I noticed that after we left the kingdom, although the feeling of maliciousness ebbed, it just suddenly spiked again…”

Kanan paused, “If Nozomi-san needs us, then she should send a message down the chain.”

“I know… But that message could be a bit late.”

“Yes, but we have a job to do right now. Ruby-chan needs us.”

“Yes, yes,” Mari managed a laugh, “I didn’t think I’d ever see Dia in a position such as this.”

“If anything, I’m sure if you had to guess which one of the Kurosawa siblings were to ever become possessed, you would end up guessing Ruby-chan.”

“True,” Mari said, settling her arm over Kanan again and nuzzling into her neck, “Ah… I’m sure we have time anyway. Or we can simply leave it up to Nozomi-san to sort out.”

“Even if an evil is threatening the world, we still need to get paid.”

“Ah, but the Kurosawas get a friend discount, right?”

“They can spare a bit of money,” Mari laughed, closing her eyes.

~

The next day, Kanan and Mari had awoken early to survey the damage and just the general issues around the mansion. They had confined Dia, or rather, the demon possessing her to the bedroom with a temporary seal. If the seal was there for too long, the demon would likely break through it and be rather angry about it, so they had to work fast. It would be angry anyway, as demons were so often.

“A water demon is strange,” Kanan mused out loud as she looked towards the ceiling that was soaking through and dripping onto the floor below. 

“Mm, but I feel like I’d rather deal with this than a fire demon.”

“We can’t say that for sure,” Kanan said, watching Mari diligently take notes. Kanan could write legibly, but it was better to leave it to Mari who had had a more affluent upbringing with a better education, “It might not strike you that water demons are to be more dangerous than fire ones, so you can’t let your guard down.”

Mari didn’t say a word after that, scribbling down some more notes.

“As long as we make it through this without getting drowned or anything like that, we’ll be alright. I’m still trying to judge whether or not this should be a forceful exorcism or a negotiated exorcism.”

“I think that depends on how the demon is going to act,” Mari observed, finishing off her statement, “But Ruby-chan has said that she’s oddly subdued.”

Kanan didn’t like the sound of that, but she had no reason to be overly concerned, but when Ruby entered the room, looking more than a bit pale, she frowned.

“E-erm… Onee-chan, well, I mean… The demon wants to speak to you.”

Kanan and Mari exchanged a glance, as Mari wrote something without even looking down. But Kanan nodded and followed Ruby up to the room where Dia sat on the bed and to anyone else, looking as though nothing were out of the ordinary other than various soaked items within.

Dia’s head turned towards the door and it was clear she was possessed from the dark blue flooding her eyes completely and it simply stood, walking to the door and stopping just before the seal in place.

“Do you know why I travelled to this realm?” The demon asked, chewing its host’s cheek, “Oh, what am I saying? Of course you don’t.”

“Are you going to tell us?” Mari asked, standing in forefront.

“Why would I make such a statement if I wasn’t intending to tell you?” It scoffed, making a movement as though it were rolling its eyes, though with no pupil it was impossible to tell for sure, “I came with a warning. And to offer potential help.”

“What’s the warning?”

“I’m getting to that!” The demon hissed, turning on its heel for a brief second.

Kanan made a face, obviously not used to any of these kinds of words and tones coming out of Dia’s mouth, whilst Mari tried her best not to let on that she was getting more and more amused at this whole situation.

“We have certain entities in Hell, you know, hierarchies and almost a society… You have your ruler and I suppose what you can class as advisors and so on… There is a certain degree of disconnect our ruler has, so let’s simply say his advisors go off on a whim and do whatever they wish… There’s a plan in place and things will be moving soon.”

Kanan raised an eyebrow and mumbled, “Seven Devils?”

The demon wasn’t one to miss a bit and her head snapped to Kanan, “How do you know about that?”

“We’ve… Come across an incident or two before.” Mari was careful not to reveal too much to the demon of course.

“Well, if you’ve come across that then you surely know you can’t face it alone.”

“That is true… And we need all the help we can get.”

“Nozomi-san might be opposed…” Kanan cut in, “Forgive me for being a little distrusting... But, one step out of line…”

“And you’ll what? Get me out your friend’s body with a sword? You won’t even kill me, you’ll kill her. But if you need proof of my… Loyalty, then I can say that I had no idea that anyone on the surface knew about this. Plus the Devils could handle everything without an informant on the inside. They aren’t expecting much dissent anyway.”

“Why are you offering your help anyway?”

“The moment they solidify power over this realm, things will be heavily regulated. Less fun for demons like me. Plus I’ve never approved of them. They’re strangely dysfunctional and unhealthy, but they’ll rally around their leader.”

“How much information do you have on them?” Mari asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Not as much as you’d like me to know unfortunately.”

“Alright… And what of our friend? If you help us, will you end your possession willingly?”

“I will. I know the word of a demon isn’t an awful lot to go off, but I would gladly go through any ritual that may guarantee my cooperation.”

Kanan sighed, “It’s a lot of effort… But I could perform a glove seal.”

When the demon shrugged in agreement, Mari ushered a confused and worried Ruby off to fetch a pair of gloves as Kanan prepared for what would probably be a very long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who's bad at updating


	6. Chapter 6

After a few days, Nozomi had received private correspondence from Mari about the incident that had occurred and whilst she was pleased to have more help, there was always the risk that information would leak. As long as nothing caused a hysteria, then she supposed everything was fine. But this was particularly delicate matter, in highly religious times.

But the problem lay more and more with Eli. She hadn’t done any public visits or graced anywhere with her presence and rumour was beginning to spread that she was ill with some kind of affliction that not even a trained healer could cure. Whilst it wasn’t entirely true, there was certainly an element of the truth that lay within it. And the staff were becoming concerned as well. 

Nozomi herself had began to worry that whatever God presided over this realm had abandoned them, leaving them to their own devices and letting whatever existed in malevolence enter and do as they pleased. It wasn’t an ideal situation of course, but humanity persisted as God’s people, true creations of a divine entity, to be merely influenced, yet not overtaken by any kind of hellish force. Of course, that was supposed to be the idea, but whether or not a human gave into influences depended on both willpower and personal alignments.

But, perhaps God was simply there, but left humans to their own free will and watching his creations deal with things with nothing more than His mere presence to help them. She supposed that everything worked out in the end that way. Humans were the most resilient of creatures, arguably.

Nozomi unfortunately felt as though she only thing she could do was wait and clean up the aftermath as best she could.

~

News was spreading.

A holy building catching fire? Madness.

It couldn’t be true.

Of course, Maki hadn’t nearly liked how slowly the news was spreading, so she had brought it upon herself to torch another building, this time, with devout worshippers of the church still inside. None had survived.

God couldn’t allow something like this, could he? A benevolent being, holding the powers of the universe and letting those who followed him as devoutly as could be, die in a hellfire? Who was to say that it wouldn’t happen again?

Church attendees began to drop. Many attempted to worship within their own homes, yet it was never the same, yet condemned by those who continued to attend, calling those who had perished within the fires sinners. So Maki had shown them no mercy either.

Unrest began to spread. If God wouldn’t protect them, then their rulers certainly couldn’t. Even as kind a ruler as Eli had been, nothing could quell the worries of the citizens living within city walls, on the outskirts. Holy buildings weren’t even safe.

Many priests had attempted to re-bless their churches, but Maki appeared to have taken those as a challenge upon herself. News spread to other kingdoms, but it was soley confined to Eli’s. But there was the constant looming question of what would happen next and whether it would spread.

And that was where Maki thrived. Right in the centre of unrest, challenge and complete and utter all-encompassing despair. Revelling in the wrath that grew, crime began to spread, as if God wasn’t sparing even the most loving and kind people, then what was the point? Maki didn’t like to compare herself to God too much, but with all this being attributed to such, she couldn’t help but feel proud of herself. She could have sworn she even saw Umi crack a smile at some point upon hearing about her work.

It had started off as something small, a minor crime committed in a market, that soon grew and twisted out of control into a full scale riot. The guards could do nothing as the citizens, once proud and sophisticated, reduced to Godless savages. With nothing to smite and nothing to lose, the movement warped and twisted into mindless violence. It had been too little too late when Eli heard the news and soon there was simply a bloodbath left over. Healers who had retained what few scraps of faith they had decided to go and help, if not for God, out of the goodness of their hearts. The spread of despair was unpreventable. Kingdoms offered condolences, but nothing could bring back the dead, who had been consumed by grief.

Naturally, Eli had gone on damage control, unfortunately followed by the Devil that had started it all. There was very little that she could do, except give a public address. So, with her appearance as brushed up as she could possibly manage, which still wasn’t as much as she would have liked, she had headed out the castle for another one of the few times she spent outside nowadays.

But nothing could quite compare to being amongst the wreckages that were left behind, hopelessness written on people’s faces and not only that, but many people felt as though royals could never quite sympathise with those of the ‘lower classes.’ And whilst that may have been true to some extent, it wasn’t like Eli lacked empathy.

But Eli was beginning to feel anger welling inside her. If there was nothing she could do, what was the point? Resignation for the royal family was starting to grow and she knew it. But staying strong was just about all she was good at, even if she could feel herself starting to break under the pressure and the constant smell of smoke that followed her around and stuck to her clothes, yet remained ever potent to no one else except her was maddening.

Thus, the first cracks began to show on Eli’s visage. There was barely a time when she was without a malevolent presence and once again, the thoughts began to surface of subjugation and tyranny, which she fought against as best she could. Unfortunately, in the fallout of a riot and the increase of crime, she would have more to judge.

“You know, who would stand in your way if you said that future criminals were to be executed instead of coming to you? A workload would be lifted off your shoulders for definite,” Maki suggested, examining her fingernails, Kotori popping up beside her in that obnoxious grey puff of smoke.

“Besides, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Kings and queens are chosen by God so you can do whatever you want. It’s God’s will and all that.”

Maki looked like she was about to tell Kotori go leave, but a hard to discern smirk from Kotori caused her go to silent. Eli didn’t raise her head to look at either of them.

“That’s exactly why I have to not fall into temptation. Because I was chosen.”

“Well, maybe it’s your destiny to fall, if you put it that way? Fate is fate and fate is unchangeable,” Kotori laughed, “I sound like Nozomi-chan, don’t I?”

Eli couldn’t help but clench her fist, “Don’t say her name like that; like you know her.”

Kotori smirked, knowing the soft spot she’d found, “Are you sure I don’t know her at all that well? I know where she came from, the old woman who’s like a mother to her and I know she’s worried about you. Maybe you should take control of things and show some strength, for her sake.”

“She wouldn’t want me to do it like that,” Eli said, walking her way through the silent halls after dismissing the guards for the day, “If you’re going to use her as a leverage at least convince me she’s something she’s not.”

Kotori only chuckled, instead of being thrown off like Eli had expected she’d be, “Secrets are kept all the time, Eli-chan. Whether you think they are or not.”

Eli grunted and shook her head, the seeds of doubt planted thoroughly.

~

It had started off small. Eli had never been a ruler who had used the death penalty before, but after a former priest had begged to be sent to his maker, she had assented with a swift execution, even if her guards had seemed somewhat reluctant. Granted, her had been guilty of murder, but even then, her moral compass had always been strong.

More executions followed, most of them simple beheadings, but soon, Eli had executed a high ranking official that was sure to make her some enemies. But she didn’t find herself caring too much, even as a series of letters made their way to her. She hadn’t found herself caring too much about its contents, so she growled to Maki to make herself useful, who happily obliged in burning the letters.

Instead of fighting against any of the outside influences, she found herself not speaking to them altogether, or just giving small grunts of affirmation. It felt useless to fight anymore. Chosen by God to rule or not, she held no special powers or abilities. And whilst she had always thought her will was greater than most, with no one seeming to answer her prayers, there was little she could do against darker, otherworldly influences.

As if trouble hadn’t already began, approval of the monarchy was starting to plummet. 

~

Kotori sighed, puppeteering another illusion to stir up yet more trouble. She was never one to actually commit anything physical when it came to a target unless in very special circumstances and this was just routine. Sowing the seeds of a cross-kingdom affair between nobles was nothing to take lightly, but it all felt so easy and natural. Eventually, she would be able to sit back and watch the events unfold for themselves.

She had put the idea of an affair within both party’s heads. One of them held very little desire in a relationship with a man so invested within his kingdom’s rapidly crumbling economy and civil unrest. The other just simply wanted something new. 

She posed as the little maid girl at a party for the aristocracy. Part of her was disgusted at such a scene, but another part of her morbidly wondered just what kind of things occurred. She could witness events unfold and soon manage to bring about a group of witnesses, or people who simply suspected something illicit was going on. Such high ranking people weren’t supposed to cause scandals, nevermind cross-kingdom. This would do more than turn heads, it would already sour the view of Eli’s kingdom. They were involved in Godless times and savagery almost, spread amongst upper and lower classes and soon, other kingdoms would take it upon themselves to purge the wicked through blood and anguish.

And Kotori thrived even at the mere thought of that. 

Of course, everything went according to plan. The two officials had made their way off into a secluded room and now was the time to strike. She asked in her innocent tone for a few maids and servants to go and clean one of the rooms, as a drunken guest had made a mess inside. It wasn’t anything too bad, but if anyone were to go inside it would surely ruin the tone of the rest of the house. They diligently left, not even bothering to ask who Kotori was, as it wasn’t uncommon for aristocracy to take on new staff when it came to hosting these displays of grandeur.

The duo were of course, caught in the act immediately, whether their thoughts were blurred with liquor or not, it was still a sin. As much as things tried to be kept under wraps, it was of course, inevitable that news would leak out from many sources. 

It surely wouldn’t be too long for any crusades to begin. The already mustered troops towards the south were surely itching for a fight and any excuse for their army to march was one that the ruler was willing to take.

So, with that, the invasion began. Guards were scattered, the army in disarray and the aristocracy in shambles, due to the crippled economy and scandals that had occurred, so it wasn’t difficult for the army to advance.

Nozomi had ran to Eli’s aid, who seemed preoccupied and distanced, even more so than the past few days. She looked at Nozomi with tired eyes beyond her years, sick of seeing horror upon horror and to be subjected to such torment was enough for a mere mortal to become sick of life and what it had to offer.

But she seemed to snap out of it, when Nozomi didn’t hesitate to pull her into a tight hug, teary eyed and her heart thumping with anxieties and pure love. Eli had been hesitant to return any affection, but what did she have to lose now? Out of everything that had happened to her, Nozomi’s support had been almost unwavering. She had been silent through her punishments and even if she morally objected, she still loved Eli. Of course she did. Nozomi had stood tall with her by her side and Eli had barely realised. And now it was too late to rely on her; too much had occurred.

So for the first time in a long time, she cried into Nozomi and she seemed to understand. Sickened by what she had done and what she had become, she knew that she didn’t deserve Nozomi, especially not at a time like this. Nozomi deserved only the best.

“Nozomi-” She choked, “I love you…”

Nozomi nodded and stroked her hair, “I love you too… Forever and always.”

Loud thumping began to ring throughout the throne room, of which they were only a corridor away. Eli herself couldn’t flee. It was time for her to face the consequences of her actions, even if it did mean that a malicious power was able to enter the world. The world was in a constant struggle of light and darkness, so she was certain this wasn’t selfish. The universe would always rebalance. Another loud bang to the wooden door, splintering and shuddering under the brunt of a ram, snapped Eli out of her reverie and she pulled back just a bit from the hug, keeping her hands on Nozomi’s shoulders.

“Nozomi, I have to face this,” She said, looking into the eyes of the woman she loved, “And I won’t make it out the other end, I know this as a fact. But I can’t take you with me. There’s a passageway in our bedroom, hidden behind the fireplace. Twist the candlestick and don’t hesitate for even a second, please.”

“Elicchi please… It can’t end like this,” Nozomi said, trying her best to remain strong even as tears appeared in her eyes, “I wanted us to grow old together… I didn’t care for being queen, I wanted you and only you.”

Nozomi had never been selfish before. But now, even as much as she wanted to do as Eli said, another part of her wanted her to be with her so they could die together, no matter how young or how old. But Eli only shook her head, her former stubbornness leaking through, “You know I can’t let you do that. I swore I’d protect you no matter what happened.”

The thumping on the door only intensified and Eli knew it would only be a matter of time before the old wooden door gave out. Eli pulled Nozomi in for one last blissful embrace and a passionate kiss, holding back any more tears before pulling away.

“Live on for me, Nozomi. Please.”

Then, she gave Nozomi a gentle push, turning on her heel and striding her way to the throne room, attempting to retain her air of regality to face the oncoming onslaught. She didn’t look to see if Nozomi had followed, but judging the fact it was just her inside the old, empty room, she had gone. That thought brought her comfort, as her world came crumbling down around her. She dismissed the small troupe of guards that had remained loyal to her, instructing them to escape the castle through the same route Nozomi had done and to protect the queen with their lives. They were reluctant to oblige, but Eli had been unnecessarily harsh when it came to hurrying them along, raising her voice. But before they went, they knew she was thankful.

Just as the last ram was about to be delivered to the door, her vision swirled and she was faced with seven devils, those who had made her life a living hell, the moments of reprieve only being cruel periods of drawing out the inevitable.

“I suppose this is what you wanted,” Eli said, refusing to give away any weakness, “Why call me now?”

“Quite simply,” Umi said, stepping forward, “We’re here to take control.”

“What makes you think I’ll give it to you?”

“You misunderstand,” Umi shook her head, “I’m not asking your permission. This has gone well enough and there’s nothing you can do.”

“Been lovely doing business with you,” Nico said, with faux-sweetness and an infuriating grin, “Be seeing you around.”

Umi snapped her fingers and her vision faded back to that of the fateful moment where the door, her last line of defense, splintered and bent backwards and where her limbs moved of their own accord. Something was disgustingly wrong, even as she stood tall, the stance wasn’t hers. It was too prideful and it looked down at the soldiers that came barrelling into the throne room, hands behind her back.

The ruler of the southern kingdom strode before his soldiers, clad in armour and raising a sword at the bottom of the series of steps in the direction of Eli’s throat, “It’s over. Your tyranny is at an end, Ayase, and I will claim this land in my own name, for all that remains holy in the world.”

“It’s funny; that you think your God is with you.”

Her tone was cold and her words weren’t her own, yet she couldn’t muster any kind of strength to break the control that had been exerted over her.

“I stand before you untainted by hellish influences, even after walking across your treacherous lands. Of course He is with me.” The king seemed somewhat perturbed by what he thought was Eli’s performance, in the face of certain death.

“If your God was with you,” She brought her hand from behind her back, “Would He allow something like this?” Her fingers clicked and the shadow behind her grew and twisted, soon rising and coalescing into a hulking beast that resembled a bird, with numerous red eyes, ebbing feathers, a jagged beak and oozing an awful black substance.

Obviously panicked soldiers drew back, a few of the braver ones standing to their king’s aid, whilst Eli’s face remained stony, reduced to the vessel for another. An archer attempted a shaky shot at the monster, but the arrow only bounced off its hide and it tilted its head curiously, like how a human would react to a fly briefly hitting them.

“What kind of deals have you made Ayase?!” He demanded, “Nothing good ever came of those who dabbled with demons!”

“You still think you’re talking to Ayase?” Her voice effortlessly rose above everyone else, her eyes a sharp brown instead of their normal blue, “She’s gone. Just a hollow vessel at this point. She made no deals, she simply succumbed to torture beyond her power.”

“And what are you then? A demon? Demons can easily be defeated.” 

She gave an unamused chuckle, before dark blue smoke billowed from Eli’s torso, who slumped to the ground from fatigue, soon swirling to reveal Umi’s form, “I’m more than a demon. And there’s more than one of me.”

Maki took the opportunity to lift her cloaking, raising her arm alongside Umi’s as their magic enveloped their arms and shot towards the door, moulding a portal where it once stood and separating the army that stood. The trapped forces were beginning to crumble in fear, as hellish screams and sounds emanated from the portal, tormented souls swirling around the room and between the soldiers, before five other figures pushed their way through. Nico took centre stage, striding her way towards the bottom of the stairs.

“Well, I have to hand it to you. You’ve done a pretty good job here,” She said with an infuriating smirk, “Probably couldn’t have gone off better.”

Kotori had glided her way up the steps, reaching to pet the monster that screeched happily when it saw her and she giggled, leaning into the nuzzling she received from its massive beak.

“God isn’t with you within the confines of this room. The only afterlife you see here is one of hellfire,” Umi glanced to Maki, who made her way down the steps, “Let us see how your God rescues you from this fate.”

After a vague gesture in Maki’s direction, Maki grabbed the still pointed sword’s blade, her hand melting through the metal with worrying ease, before she grabbed him by the collar and dragged him towards the portal, “I am not a man to be bested! I will take your test of faith!” He declared, before Maki growled and took the remnants of scalding liquid metal in her hand and poured it on his face, his screams ringing throughout the room before she drowned them out in the portal.

“Show’s over everyone!” Nico declared, throwing her arms out in the direction of the terrified and broken soldiers, “It’s been lovely having you all here and I’m sure we won’t be seeing each other again. Kotori!”

“Hey, hey, you can’t rush her,” Kotori playfully frowned, rubbing the top of the bird’s head, “She’s actually quite shy.” The bird made a small noise, which Kotori quirked an eyebrow at, “Oh, what’s that?” She leaned close and the beast opened its beak and licked almost the entire length of Kotori’s body, who laughed aloud, even though a large part of her body was now covered in a viscous ooze, “Okay, okay, good girl, do you want to go ahead?”

Kotori gave it one final pat, before the bird let out another screech and took off, wrapping its claws around the chain of the chandelier and leering at the crowd beneath it, numerous eyes flicking around. It yanked the chain down, allowing the weighty chandelier to come crashing down on anyone unfortunate to be underneath it. But some may see it as fortunate to be granted such a quick death, as the bird swooped down, plucking up soldiers, as well as snapping them up in its serrated beak.

Whilst the rest of them seemed to be watching the carnage amusedly, Umi looked at Eli’s unconscious form and lifted her up with ease, “When I go through, pull the portal down and start expansion.” 

She turned on her heel, away from the rest of them, the bird just about finished at this point, as Umi stepped over the bodies and disappeared into the howling abyss. As Nico and Kotori took the portal down, the bird took the opportunity to pounce on the forces outside and let out a piercing screech. 

“Well, everyone I’d say this has gone off pretty well. Don’t let your guard down though,” Nico said, her hands over her hips as she surveyed the pile of bloodied corpses, “We still got a ways to go.”

~

Nozomi had watched her wife leave, lacking in the regality she had once owned. It had been a more than tiresome period of time for the both of them and a small part of Nozomi was glad it would be over. But of course, she was now powerless. Powerless to stop anything. She didn’t even know what she was truly up against. 

Along the corridor, she poked her head through the doors, gathering up whoever she could to bring them through the passageway. A few brave - or foolish - souls decided that they would stay to combat the hellish onslaught that would follow. Nozomi only felt sorry for those that she couldn’t save, but she had managed to instruct the kitchen staff, a few of the guards who would admit to their desertion at this point and the castle’s physician, Riko. 

Most were confused, but Nozomi swore to answer all questions as soon as they were all to safety, but even she wasn’t sure when that would truly be. Nozomi grabbed a torch and led the way through the passageway that was as musky as she could imagine, but it was either this or face and army and certain darker forces.

“Your majest...” Riko began, Nozomi nearly flinching at the use of formality, but saying nothing, “Eli-sama told me about this. That something like this would happen… I got into contact with one of my friends and they said they’d bring their boat over from the dock to where this passageway came out and that she’d take us to the next kingdom over.”

“Thank you, Sakurauchi-sa- I mean… Riko-chan. The barriers between us are about to crumble, so let’s forget about royalty.”

Riko nodded silently, falling back to the rest of the staff before daylight soon shone through once again and the passageway slid open to reveal the outside again from the stifling and confining stone. It was surprisingly serene, in comparison to what was happening inside. The silence was cut through with a distant screech, which did little to alleviate any nerves, if the small whispers were any indication but everyone stepped out onto a stone platform, a decently sized boat floating on the water beside it.

“I was wondering when you’d all show up,” A sturdy, stocky woman hopped off the boat, raking her grey hair back with one hand, seeming quite cheery despite the circumstances, “We better get going. Caught a glimpse of somethin’ that didn’t fill me with confidence. Oh, and it’s good to see you again Riko-chan. And everyone, I’m Watanabe You, happy to be taking you all to safety! Yousoro!”

She smiled to Riko, giving her a hug, before bowing her head in respect to Nozomi. Nozomi would come to hate that, she thought.

“What did you see?” Riko asked.

“Ah, wasn’t too sure… But it looked kind of like a bird? Huge, black, nasty looking.”

There were a few murmurs of worry, but soon, a cheerful looking ginger made her way out of the main cabin, hopping out as well.

“Chika-chan?” Riko looked confused, “Aren’t you supposed to be at the inn?”

“Jeez, what a great way of saying hello after all this time… I mean, with the army marching past our doorstep and all the religious stuff, no one wanted to stay or do much travelling around the kingdom,” Chika shrugged, “So when You-chan asked me if I wanted to come with, my family didn’t seem to mind me going.”

“I-I am happy to see you though, you know…” Riko said sheepishly.

“Yeah, I know. Oh-! Your majesty!” Chika startled, as though it was just clicking now in her head she was standing in front of the current queen of the kingdom. Or, well, former queen.

Nozomi only let out a nervous chuckle, “Let’s not worry about status right now. I’d prefer to leave.” She said, as much as it pained her to say it, not knowing the fate of Eli.

“Where’s Ayase-sama?” You asked, peering over the crowd.

A few uncomfortable stares came Nozomi’s way, at which she looked down at the ground. 

“She’s not coming with us.”

A silence ensued, aside from the waves lapping at the boat and platform, broken only by the sound of Nozomi’s boots hitting the stone and soon the wood, as Chika stood aside to let her onto the boat first. Everyone followed her and You and Chika managed to get the boat sailing. 

Nozomi felt nearly overcome by blackness, as she watched the castle fade into the distance, feeling her soul gradually crushed at leaving her soulmate for what was most certain death. She knew it wouldn’t have changed things to die with her, but at least they would be together. As cliched as it sounded, Nozomi almost felt as though she would have been happier with that. But that was a selfish wish and now she had to live on, to find out more about their invisible enemy that didn’t seem so difficult to reach now. She knew that she was still powerless against them anyway, but there had to be some way to change things.

She asked You if she could take a small strand from one of the thicker threads she had as part of her shipment and she agreed, even if Nozomi couldn’t help but feel it was because of her status. With a small sigh, she took her ring off her fourth finger, putting it on the thread and fastening it behind her neck and letting it hang freely. She rubbed the indent where it once was, but she didn’t shed any tears.

She couldn’t.

Nozomi was by no means nasty, no person to get angry, or hold grudges. But this was beyond a grudge, a petty act of thievery, betrayal of trust and worse than some of the worst crimes she could put together. This was an imbalance of the universe, hellish powers rising up to take things that weren’t theirs. 

Clenching the ring tight, she wondered what she could possibly do. But there would be something.

After all, there was a thought that was primary in her mind, growing ever so slowly; a small threat now, but with the potential to take her over.

The desire to exact revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so ah, i mean i dont want to sound too needy, but it would be really nice to get some feedback on the story thus far? i mean, to confess, most of my ideas and excitement for this fic surround all the shit that's about to go down after this, so the story should hopefully start to pick up from here, sorry if this chap feels a little rushed,,,
> 
> but i mean, i've written more than 22,000 words thus far and i'm not getting a lot of feedback and it kinda sucks because i don't know what i'm doing wrong or if people are actually enjoying it. i got nothing last chapter and i literally have one review on ff.net from chapter one, but i really would love a comment or something?
> 
> but aaa sorry if this sounds rambly or just plain old annoying, but as i said, all the excitement should be from here on out!


	7. Chapter 7

The boat ride had taken them to the next kingdom over, thankfully the one where Nozomi knew that Mari and Kanan were staying at. She’d need help if she were to formulate a plan. Immediately, there were cities abuzz with rumours and news claiming to be from the kingdom they’d just came from, but Nozomi became unsure on what was truth and what were lies. It was better to ignore things for now and focus on her own personal plans. 

Most of the castle’s former staff had split up, to go and stay with relatives or to find work elsewhere now that their former employer’s status was completely unknown.

“You want to do something, right? I can see it on your face,” Riko said to Nozomi now that the two had stepped off the boat, “I-if you would pardon me for being so forward… I’d like to come with you.”

“Riko-chan, I barely know where I’m going,” Nozomi said, managing a small laugh, “But… I suppose I don’t have much precedent to say no. I do have an idea though…”

“Do you have a plan?”

“Well, I need to know more about what I’m up against. I don’t know how good of an idea it’ll be just to turn up, but I have little choice…”

Just then, You hopped off the boat, carrying a bag over her shoulder, “Here y’are. These clothes’ll make you look like everyone else, I know you don’t want to attract attention…”

“Thank you Watanabe-san. I only hope I can repay you properly for what you’ve done for me.”

You scratched at her collarbone and Nozomi was amused to see that there was a blush spreading on her face. She still had some charm to her, she supposed. 

“I-it’s no problem, you don’t need to worry about any of that…”

Nozomi chuckled, heading inside one of the cabins to quickly change. An ordinary shirt, worker’s trousers and a long hooded robe. She sighed, taking her hair out of her usual twintails and then putting it in a single ponytail instead, tucking it into the hood. If anyone even so much as suspected who she was, then they would likely be turned away by the mere thought of royalty wearing such clothing.

Stepping off the boat once again, she had her dress folded neatly over her arm, she smiled and stood in front of a once again flustered You, “I don’t have any use for this anymore… I doubt I’ll ever wear it again. Selling it will probably cover more than enough for our journey.”

“I-I couldn’t…” You said, waving her hands in front of her, but Nozomi only shook her head and took one of her hands by the wrist and pressed it into her grip, then taking her other and placing it over the top.

“That wasn’t hard, was it?” Nozomi jested, “But ah, please take it. It’s nothing more than a painful reminder to me now.” She released her hands and You nodded silently, taking it inside the boat.

Riko, who’d been watching the entire exchange, hummed in thought, “You-chan always did admire royalty.”

Nozomi chuckled, “Well, I’d rather put it all behind me now. I have bigger things to worry about than my dresses.”

“Well, what now?” Riko asked, following Nozomi as she began to pace away from the dock, adjusting her hood temporarily.

“I, at the very least, have the address of where two exorcists are either at currently, or have been most recently. I’m going to ask their help, if I can find them.”

“I see… I suppose it makes the most sense to get people involved who are knowledgeable in this kind of thing,” Riko nodded approvingly.

“Thankfully, I don’t think they’re that far away.” Nozomi said, as the two of them began weaving in and out of crowds at the dock.

“What even is happening?” Riko asked, revealing some of her nervousness regarding this whole thing. In fact, Riko herself thought it was a miracle that she hadn’t broken down yet under what could potentially be seen as an apocalypse.

“Something bigger than the both of us can probably imagine. But I don’t plan on cowering in the shadows and letting whatever’s out there have their way.”

“I… Don’t even know what we’re up against, but just know that, I’ll help you however I can.”

Nozomi smiled to Riko and decided to hold back from saying another word for the time being, at least until they had left the docks and a few of the crowds behind.

~

It hadn’t taken them too long to get on the main road and with a limited amount of money (Riko had retrieved her bag during the evacuation, yet Nozomi had been far too distracted to think too deeply about the matter of money), they decided it would be best to go by foot rather than worry about horses, carriages, etc. 

It was reasonable to stop at a tavern for a brief moment, just to get refreshed and to drink in the events of the day and to get their heads straight. Nozomi was mindful of her hood and careful of meeting anyone’s eyes. Riko seemed more nervous than she was though, but that was probably just down to her personal anxieties and the weight of everything happening right now. 

Nozomi headed up to the bartender, money already in hand because Riko didn’t want to deal with anyone, ordering simply a bottle of wine and the two of them gladly took a corner booth, Nozomi brushing a stray bit of hair back inside her hood. Even if the bar was quite quiet, it was still not a good idea to attract attention.

“Is it odd not to feel anything right now? Or not to feel much for what’s happening back home?”

“Hmm,” Nozomi hummed, pouring them both a glass, “It’s… An emotional disconnect I suppose. You know something awful is happening, but you don’t know what. Without an image to put to a disaster, we feel little…”

Riko nodded, “I just hope my family’s okay.”

Nozomi looked down at her glass, swirling the wine before taking a sip, thinking of the old woman that raised her, “Same here. I’m sure your family is fine,” She looked up, sending Riko a gentle smile. She’d forgotten to smile over the course of the last day.

There was a sudden thump at the tavern’s door and it opened unceremoniously; the barkeeper's face souring as he prepared himself for a call he’d become accustomed to. Three bandits came striding inside, “The look on your face tells us you missed us! Well, here we are,” He said, leaning his arms against the counter, “Got our protection tax?”

Riko swallowed and shrank back in the booth, whilst Nozomi instead rose from her seat and made her way towards the group, this time looking dead ahead rather than allowing her gaze to drag on the ground. She had caught the attention of the bandit at the back of the group, even as the barkeeper seemed busy with counting out his coin. But he had noticed Nozomi, but he didn’t speak a word.

“It’s best if ya sit back down, miss.” 

“Oh no, I just want a drink,” Nozomi said nonchalantly, sizing him up silently.

“I think you can wait ‘til we’re done,” He said, straightening himself up properly.

Nozomi knew he was sensing a threat, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on how she would retaliate against him. She looked a little bit like a peasant, aside from the fact she was a lot cleaner than one might guess. Perhaps a more mysterious traveller than anything else.

“Ah, no, I’m parched, sorry sir.”

“You can still wai-” Nozomi cut him off with a swift blow stomach before he could react, then taking the knife from his sheath and hitting the back of his head with the handle as he doubled over. Nozomi hummed in thought, checking him over and making sure he was fully knocked out before facing the other assailants.

“Ah, you’ll have to forgive me, I think I’m a little rusty at this…” Nozomi said, examining the dagger as the other two bandits had already drawn their blades in her direction.

She glance between the two attackers, glad that there was a small enough space that having both of them attack her at once would become problematic for the both of them. She looked at the dagger in her hand and dropped it to the floor; she’d never killed anyone and she didn’t intend on starting today.

One of them saw it as a chance, lunging forward to stab, but Nozomi dodged out of the way, grabbing his arm with both hands. She swept his foot out from underneath him and went to the ground with him, then gradually twisting his arm and then yanking it away from him with a sickening snap. With the second bandit incapacitated, the third looked more than a little uneasy.

“I’ll give you two options. You can either fight me and end up like your friends, or you can give back money to this barkeep over here, take your friends and leave.” She offered nonchalantly.

He grit his teeth for a second, shaking his head and putting his weapon away. He seemed to be the smartest, knowing when to admit defeat. He turned to the barkeep and threw a pouch his way, before hoisting his friends up.

“I don’t really think you can really take protection money anymore, especially when you can’t protect yourselves,” She said with a small laugh, as the thoroughly shamed trio left the bar. 

Nozomi let her shoulders slacken with a sigh, the barkeep flicking her the money they’d paid for the wine, “Drink’s on the house.”

Nozomi caught it somewhat hesitantly, “Ah… I-I don’t know if I can accept that.”

“Listen, with luck you’ve stopped them from coming back and gotten me back a lot of revenue. It’s the least I can do for you.” 

Nozomi nodded, “Alright… Thanks.” She said with a genuine smile.

“I thought you looked familiar,” He said, stepping out from behind the bar to clean up any messes that had been left, “I suppose I shouldn’t question what a queen is doing inside a shady tavern in the middle of the road in the next kingdom over. But I’ve heard things aren’t going well…”

A brief moment of hurt flashed on her face, but she managed to shrug it off, “I think you better brace over here as well. I can see every kingdom falling within the next month.” 

Nozomi them turned on her heel and went back towards the table, to a startled Riko whom Nozomi had entirely forgotten about. 

“Should I explain?” Nozomi said, only letting out a small laugh when Riko nodded without a word, “I grew up in a rougher part of the kingdom and the woman who raised me wanted for me to be able to defend myself. When I married, Elichi encouraged the idea of me continuing. She didn’t want me to be caught in any kind of bad situation, y’see.”

“I-I suppose that comes in handy for you…” Riko said, “You didn’t hurt yourself did you?”

“No, no, I didn’t get hit. But thanks for your concern,” She said, sitting herself back down in the booth and then taking a long drink of wine, “We should get moving soon, we don’t want to be walking whilst it’s still dark.”

When the two of them finished, they stood up and the barkeep gestured to the bottle, “Feel free to take it with you. As I said, least I can do.”

Nozomi thanked him again whilst Riko took the bottle and put it in her bag. Nozomi adjusted her hood and they both bid their goodbyes.

Riko still seemed a little shaken as they left. She’d never had to deal with bandits or any kind of roughness like that in her life, unless one counted the aftermath of fights and so on. She may have been a physician, but she was by no means a battle healer.

“What’s up Riko-chan? A little down?” Nozomi said, strangely upbeat even now.

“I’m just thinking about how big a change this is going to end up being. F-for both of us I suppose.”

“I think it’s going to be a big change for everyone. This whole thing will definitely be felt all over the world. That’s what I feel.” 

“How do you even know what we’re up against?” Riko asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“Ah… That’s not something I can really explain to anyone, because I don’t even get it myself. It’s a sort of… Sense that I have. Beyond common sense, of course,” Nozomi chuckled, “So I can tell when things are wrong, things far out of our realm.”

“So the supernatural?” Riko said, “That doesn’t make things better…”

“Ahah, I’m sorry. But,” She shrugged, “There’s no point sugar coating the world we live in.”

“I suppose not…” Riko said, gazing at her feet and scuffing at the dusty road below them, then gazing to the nearby sign, “Just a few more miles…”

“Yeah. We’ll make it before the sun sets.”

Riko had wanted to ask Nozomi about how she was holding up, but she didn’t feel like she was one to encroach on her and Eli’s personal relationship. She was just the physician, the physician who could do nothing for Eli, when she was, well... She didn’t know for sure if Eli was alive or not, but Nozomi seemed to believe that she was gone, one way or another.

It had been relatively quiet along the road, until a small wagon rode by, the two scruffy looking horses halting beside them, an equally scruffy looking husband and wife couple kindly glancing their way, “Where you two off to? We can offer you a ride, this road ain’t pleasant, especially when night starts fallin’.”

Riko glanced to Nozomi, who nodded, keeping her face somewhat obscured. The barkeep had recognised her and she knew that she needed to keep a low profile. She was certainly an iconic figure and she could do without the attention. So, Riko made herself useful, “Ah, yes that would be nice… But we wouldn’t want to trouble you.”

“‘S no bother. We’re going to the outskirts of the city nearby.”

“That is where we’re headed.”

“Hop on back and we can take ya there. Give you a rest, mm?”

Nozomi and Riko didn’t argue, climbing onto the back of the wagon and settling themselves back as the mares began to work once again. They were sturdy and Nozomi felt secure enough in the knowledge that they would be getting them there. The both of them were hit by their tiredness all of a sudden, as they had struggled to find sleep on the boat. It was no fault of the ocean’s, but rather the stresses of having to leave their homes, their families and just about everything that meant anything to them. Sentimentalism wasn’t exactly something that one could hold onto easily. Nozomi only had her wedding ring. Riko had a few belongings, but most of them were finite resources.

“Ya know, when I saw you on the road, I got a little bit of a fright. Thought ya looked a little bit like Death ‘imself,” The man observed, glancing over his shoulder in Nozomi’s direction, “Good thing I saw your friend here otherwise I mighta had my humours go all squiffy!”

Nozomi managed a laugh, “Well, it just helps keep the sun out of my eyes. Sorry if I gave you a little fright.”

His wife looked over at her curiously for a second, as if scrutinizing her. But there appeared to be nothing too suspicious about Nozomi, other than the fact she was a hooded, robed figure. She carried no bags and she carried no weapons, as well as the fact that Riko didn’t look like a particularly intimidating person. No offence to her, of course. Perhaps she recognised Nozomi, but she couldn’t be sure where from and that was the way Nozomi preferred it.

“If it ain’t too private, what’re the both of you visiting for? Most folks hire a carriage to take ‘em over.”

“Well, we didn’t really have the funds to do that…” Riko admitted, “This was a bit of an emergency.”

“I see, I see… Well bandits are roaming, what with our guards and armies out. They could be doing whatever they want right now. Burnin’ homes, farms… It’s a pity really they have to resort to things like that to live, to take from honest folk.”

“As for what brings us out here, it’s to do with the emergency. We’re asking for help,” Nozomi said, drumming her fingers against the wood idly, “It isn’t exactly ideal and we don’t know if the help has moved on yet.”

“I wish the both of you the best of luck. And people need to start helpin’ each other out a little more.”

The two of them nodded in agreement, but they fell into a comfortable silence, with the occasional bit of small talk traded between them. There wasn’t a lot to say, as Nozomi knew that she couldn’t say a lot about her personal life without either lying or giving away too much. She would rather keep up the intrigue of a hooded traveller than anything else.

They were dropped off around the outskirts of the city and they duly thanked the couple for their help. It certainly did help, as the sun was beginning to set properly now. Hopping off the wagon and setting off on their way again, Nozomi hummed in thought.

“I remember the address… But… Obviously I don’t know my way around too much. We might have to ask for directions.”

“That won’t be too much of an issue, I went to the university here. I know my way around,” Riko said, adjusting the bag on her shoulder, “It has been a while though.”

Nozomi told her the address and Riko nodded.

“Kurosawa… The name sounds familiar. I probably heard it during my time here.”

Nozomi found it strange and foreign, to find a place so unaffected, when she herself had just come from a kingdom that had been torn apart by armies and hellish influences alike. It was peaceful, but she could tell this was just the calm before the storm, even if it was unbeknownst to the people living here.

It took them a few moments to navigate through the paved streets, many giving the mismatched duo strange looks, but the both of them didn’t seem to mind. They had bigger worries than what strangers thought of them at this current point in time.

It hadn’t taken them long to reach a gated community, not necessarily heavily guarded, but with fences so high one could get anxiety simply by looking at their height. Nozomi sighed and glanced over the area, “What a display…”

Riko looked towards the numbers on the gates and soon found the one the two of them were looking for, waving Nozomi over, “This it?”

“Yes, that’s right,” Nozomi said, trailing off briefly to check over the details in her head, “This looks it.”

Nozomi approached the guard beside the gate and firstly wondered how to go about this whole thing. It might have seemed suspicious, but there was only one way to check on whether or not the exorcists were still within the residence and that was either to wait (of which they couldn’t be sure how long they’d be waiting), or to take matters into their own hands and bite the bullet.

“Excuse me, sir, is this the Kurosawa residence?” She asked in as polite a tone as she could muster. She realised she wasn’t in much of a mood to be trifled with.

“That is correct ma’am. Do you have some business to discuss?” Thankfully, he seemed polite in return.

“I do, as a matter of fact. There are two exorcists that came here, Matsuura-san and Ohara-san. Are they still here?”

The man paused for a second, a little bit taken aback that she knew so much about who was inside, “Well… Yes, they are,” He said, clearly being careful with what he gave away, “But I’m afraid I can’t let you in without consent from a member of the Kurosawa family.”

Nozomi nodded understandingly. Being rude or arrogant wouldn’t get her anywhere, but also she didn’t seem too keen on giving away her identity right now. So, she turned to Riko and requested some paper, a quill, some ink and a coin. She got to work writing a letter, containing some details about how urgent this matter was and that it would be best if she could be let inside immediately. She signed her name and folded the paper shut, handing the letter to the guard and pressing the coin into his other hand. He knew that it meant he was to go immediately.

So, he opened up the gate and headed towards the front door, whilst Nozomi and Riko had some time to themselves for a few moments, “This has been quite the journey thus far, hasn’t it?” Nozomi hummed aloud.

“For some reason, I feel as though it isn’t quite over…”

“Hm, you could be right. If I intend to continue to fight…” She said, trailing off ominously which didn’t exactly fill Riko with confidence. She had little idea with what there was to fight, unless Nozomi intended to charge alone headfirst into an army, which didn’t seem like a good idea very becoming of a queen. Or perhaps a former queen now that Riko thought about it.

“Well, this is our next step anyway… I think the Kurosawas are some kind of business conglomerates. Or extremely successful merchants with humble beginnings.” Riko said, squinting at the mansion. Riko could never have lived in one of those, especially not alone.

Nozomi sighed and cracked her knuckles in what some might consider an unladylike fashion, but now, Nozomi felt comfortable in slacking back into more slovenly habits now that she didn’t have an image to uphold. It wasn’t as though anyone but Riko knew who she was, but Riko would have to get used to the idea of her queen being more human that she once thought. It was time to dispel the illusion that the royalty were some kind of veritable gods and goddesses who could do no wrong, regardless of whether or not they were put in place by God.

Soon enough, the guard made his way back down the pathway, coin tucked securely in his pocket and the gate remained open this time.

“I’m told that you two won’t be needing an escort up to the mansion. The exorcists have insisted that you head up, with consent being given by one of the Kurosawas.” He said, bowing his head in respect, before the both of them thanked him and headed up the path. They were met at the door by Kanan and Mari, who had such expressions of seriousness written across their face that Nozomi could hardly believe that they were the same people that she had spoken with in her old home. 

“We know that you couldn’t tell us a lot through your quickly written letter, but even then it sounds bad,” Kanan said, one bare hand in her pocket and a glove on the other, “I think we should talk this through.”

Mari nodded as well, Nozomi’s attention briefly being caught by two other girls, presumably the resident Kurosawas of the mansion. Of course, not all the Kurosawas, but likely sisters judging from their age and how certain features were similar. But Nozomi could tell just through her strange sixth sense that the older sister was possessed by a demon, whilst the younger one was in complete awe that royalty had shown up on her doorstep.

“Yes, we should talk. But first, allow me to introduce Sakurauchi Riko, one of my castle’s personal physicians who has volunteered to travel with and help me through this.”

Riko bowed her head a little shyly and was glad to see that no-one was acting like she shouldn’t be there at all, even if there wasn’t a lot she felt she could do. Nevertheless, they greeted her before the doors closed behind them and they were finally out of the public eye.

Nozomi took the opportunity to finally take her hood off and pull her ponytail just that bit tighter, as the oldest sister led them into the next room that turned out to be a tea room of sorts. They sat themselves down whilst the younger sister said something about making tea and Riko volunteering to help. She probably saw it as making herself useful.

“Well, where to start…” Nozomi thought aloud, “I suppose I should start at the burning churches? Causing paranoia and so on, but you can’t keep news like that from spreading.”

“That was probably what I felt…” Mari said, glancing to Kanan, who frowned and stared at the table for a few moments.

“I think we all know what it was,” Nozomi said, leaning back in her seat in an almost relaxed manner, “But there isn’t much good in hypothesising, when we need to figure out how we can act.”

“Yes, but we do still need your account from what happened. It’s difficult to tell the truth from the rumours over here,” Kanan said, finally looking up and pulling the glove tighter on her hand.

“Well, to keep it short… Burning churches, mass hysteria, riots, invading armies believing they’re on the side of God and something far more sinister underneath the whole thing. Influences we find very difficult to imagine.”

Riko and Ruby headed back into the room, Riko carrying the tray with six cups of tea on and setting it down on the table and trying not to look as troubled as she was. In fact, Nozomi was starting to think that Riko was taking this whole thing harder than she herself was. But Riko was just like that she supposed and there wasn’t a lot Nozomi could do to alleviate her fears. Nozomi had never felt quite so powerless in her whole life.

Kanan glanced to her glove and then to Dia, whose eyes had flooded with dark blue, her pose shifting to one that seemed a lot more unladylike, “What are we talking about? Actually taking some action? About bloody time.”

Nozomi raised an eyebrow, slightly amused by the sudden tonal shift even if Kanan did look somewhat tired as a result.

“We’re just discussing the rather worrying matters that have transpired within the past twenty four hours,” Nozomi answered, not really wanting to aggravate the demon.

“Ah, then that means- They’ve already made their move! Scourge of Hell and Earth…” The demon chuntered, turning its head away from everyone for a moment.

“Well, anyway, we need more information about the Devils. We know very little, have no writings and records and I’ve only seen a brief flash of one of them. Red hair ring a bell?”

“Ah yes… Fell from grace if I remember correctly… Not in the fallen angel sense, but in the sense her family was an affluent one that ran successful healers guilds spanning kingdoms. Nishikino I think… Blackmail and scandals befell her family and she threw her life away to higher powers. Satan answered her call before God did,” The demon tutted, “It’s a shame really. Such rage in one so young. It’s like the girl has a furnace in her chest. Instead of spitting venom in the form of words, she spits fire instead.”

Nozomi raised an eyebrow at the empathy the demon was showing, but Mari only shrugged, “The other six?” She asked.

“Where to start…” The demon thought aloud, almost wistfully, as though it were recalling memories of a simpler time as an old man, “Perhaps the youngest… Koizumi. This description will be short, because I’m unsure where she came from. She just showed up one day, a timid little thing. It’s always befuddled us all as to how she got to such a status from seemingly nowhere. Especially when some demons possessed more power and prowess than she shows, unless, well, she’s hiding something. Which is entirely possible, what with the nature of the group she’s associated with.”

“Sounds easy enough to deal with…” Nozomi thought aloud, whilst the demon gave her a curious look over, as if evaluating that she could actually stand up to the Devils.

“I’ll get through this first before we begin talking about strategies if you don’t mind.”

“Of course, my apologies.” Nozomi said, falling silent and hoping it didn’t think she was being sarcastic.

“Right, next… Hoshizora. She’s more of a tag-along than anything too sinister, but… There’s something about her that always unsettled me. I’m fairly certain that she can move faster than any of the other Devils and she gets fired up quite easily. From what I know, she’s… Actually a bit of a prankster, strangely enough. Probably knew Nishikino in mortal life,” The demon shrugged, “I’ll be honest, the younger Devils probably pose the least amount of threat.”

Nozomi was about to enquire about the other four, but the demon seemed to be getting there in its own time and didn’t want to be chivvied along at all.

“Hm. Kousaka next. Lazy sod. Doesn’t work that hard, but when she does, my God she’s a brute. Not in the sense that she has the thought process of a Neanderthal, but her strength is certainly a terrifying prospect to come up against. This is more hearsay, so take it with a grain of salt, but I heard she once strangled a demon to incapacitation with one hand because Sonoda told her to. From what I remember, she was interested in very little, but I’m certain that she was connected to two of the other Devils when she possessed a normal human’s life.”

Nozomi looked to Mari, who had taken to scribbling down notes, however hasty, but it would be useful to have this kind of thing on hand, rather than to have an impatient demon recite it whenever they forgot.

“By Satan, it’s Minami next, isn’t it?” The demon said with disdain, staring at the ceiling and crossing its legs, “She honestly is one of the most reprehensible of the whole lot. Which I suppose is a good thing, when the group you’re a part of is second only to Satan himself. Manipulative, illusionary; downright devious. Chances are if you’ve ever suffered a particularly bad night terror, it’s down to her or Yazawa. She can trick you to do all sorts, either through little seeds of doubt or fully fledged illusions. Never seen her deal with anything physically, but that’s probably part of her nature. Knew Kousaka and Sonoda, probably.”

“Still a little vague?” Nozomi asked, trying not to provoke the demon too much, or use a tone that sounded in the slightest uninterested.

“Well, I’m reciting carefully selected bits of information, be they based in rumour or actual events witnessed. Of course, it’s difficult to tell what things are the truth, but it’s not like they’re not known in Hell at all,” The demon shrugged, “News spreads in Hell like it does on Earth.”

“I see…”

“Now there’s only Sonoda and Yazawa left to mention… I would say they’re both as bad as each other, but Sonoda takes that title and wears it proudly… I suppose I should mention Yazawa first. Second in command, looks more like an imp than a devil if I’m honest… But she’d have my neck wrung for saying that, short tempered little sod. But, strangely… She seems to hold some marginally good intentions. In mortal life, she gave her soul to ensure that her family could lead a better life, due to being poverty stricken… She tends to hate higher classes, which is rather ironic nowadays.”

“Now then… The worst of the lot,” The demon commented in contempt, “Sonoda… I wouldn’t mind the group of them, if it wasn’t for her. The rest of them would mill around, unorganised and doing as many petty deeds as they could manage to entertain themselves, maybe performing slightly higher profile things every now and again, but she brings them all together… I think she draws some kind of power from the rest of them as well, something that the others don’t do. She’s intelligent, powerful and ruthless. When she made her deal, something in Hell shifted that day. She never saw selling her soul as a curse, but rather a necessary evil to achieve the end she desires.”

Nozomi made a face, whilst Mari finished off her notes. She stared at her hands and wondered what she could possibly do to face off against powers that were so high and foreign to her. But there must be a way, there always was.

“Fighting any of them on their own terms seems like a bad idea…” Kanan commented.

“Fighting any of them at all is a bad idea. Even if you do win, there’s probably a price to it.”

“Well, that isn’t going to stop me from trying,” Nozomi said, suddenly standing up and folding her arms, “I’ll do anything. I’ll put myself at risk.”

“It’s impossible.” The demon stated simply, shaking its head, “It’s suicide and would only lead to yourself becoming an instrument of their will if you tried.”

Mari then looked at Kanan who seemed to be deep in thought, her brow furrowed as though she was struggling to remember something.

“Wait, Kanan,” Mari said, her eyes suddenly widening in realisation, “You can’t be thinking about that.”

“And yet, I am,” Kanan joked gravely, “It… It’s really the only choice we have.”

“And what’s that?” Nozomi said without hesitation, raising an eyebrow.

“It’s… An imbuing ritual. Formerly used by exorcists who rebelled against their guilds, but were tied to them still and were subsequently targeted and attacked by demons. It was figured out by an exorcist who wanted to defend herself in the face of certain death without the assistance of a guild...”

“And I’m sure Kanan is thinking that it can be repurposed to suit our needs,” Mari said, sounding a little uneasy at the prospect of taking such a measure.

“Imbuing with what?”

“Abilities that normal humans shouldn’t possess… Ones restricted for angels and demons alike.”

“Well, that’s our best shot right now,” Nozomi said, trying her best not to sound fazed. She sounded like, out of all of them, she’d be the only one willing to undergo such a ritual, “How do we go about it?”

Kanan, still uneasy, scratched at her cheek, “There’s a few things you should know first… It’s extremely dangerous. You might not even survive.”

“I’m willing to put myself at risk, as I said.”

Kanan fiddled with her hands, unsure about continuing, but knowing that Nozomi wouldn’t give up on this. It probably would’ve been better for her and Mari to keep their mouths shut, but there was a small voice in the back of her mind telling her it was their only shot.

“Well… From what I know, it’s agonizing as well. If your body isn’t broken, your mind might be.”

Nozomi sighed, knowing that she’d have to slog through warnings after warnings until Kanan even considered telling them the first step unless she shoved her along.

“Kanan-chan. I know that this isn’t an ideal situation, or an ideal plan that we have, but it is the best we have. I’ve already said I’m willing to go through pain and risk. Tell me what I need to do. Or if everyone else is willing to help, what we need to do.” Nozomi said firmly, folding her arms.

Kanan looked up at her and was surprised that instead of dread, she found hope. Nozomi still had the air of someone in the royal family, the determination of a person raised in less than ideal and safe standards who had come out a stronger individual for it and someone who might just make it through the ritual, if anyone in the room could.

“I remember how to do it… I only hope memory serves me well enough. I read up on it when I was younger and my father caught me. A scolding like that doesn’t leave your memory very quickly…” She said, almost reminiscent for a brief moment, “But I never thought I’d actually ever use it.”

At this point, Ruby decided it would be best to excuse herself, as she didn’t have a lot to do or say about this whole thing and Dia, who had been given control of her body again and wasn’t feeling particularly well.

“You’ll need an inverted pentagram cut somewhere on your body. Then we have to take the blood of a demon and you have to ingest it.”

“I know this may sound like an odd question, but do you happen to have any demon blood on you?”

“I… Actually do. Mari and I use it to test whether or not our holy water is sufficient. I think one vial should be enough, but I don’t remember any exact measurements…”

“I take it we can’t use any anaesthetics…?” Riko suggested finally.

“Nope. We can’t risk any other external factors interfering. If it goes wrong, that’s probably certain death.”

“As well as ingesting demon blood, you have to have it poured on the open wound and then cauterised shut. It’s not very complicated sounding, but the ritual stretches to the course of a day and it was made by one person, for one person. We should gather the things today and start tomorrow, or at least before we lose our nerve.” 

Nozomi nodded firmly and headed to the door to the kitchen, checking to see if the sisters were inside before she bowed her head to them and clasped her hands together, “I hate to impose on the two of you, but I need to ask if you would have any spare rooms for myself and Sakurauchi-san?”

~

Even if the night had been largely restless for everyone within the household, the next day came and the necessary items diligently gathered. Ruby had decided to sit out, she knew little to nothing about the whole thing and would probably find this more scary than anything else. Riko had forced herself to stay, as she was the only trained healer and she might be able to salvage a situation gone wrong better than any of them. Kanan and Mari held the most knowledge, so of course they had to stay and oversee everything and Dia had let her body be taken over for the purposes of her demon being able to observe.

Nozomi worriedly glanced over the instruments that had been neatly set out; two vials of demon blood, a knife in a sheath, a sketch of an inverted pentagram, a thin cauterising iron, freshly soaked warm towels, and bandages. She guessed that the symbol still had to be obvious and that this process would be a slow, meticulous one. With nothing on hand to refer to other than what Kanan remembered, they couldn’t afford to waver much from Kanan’s method. Nozomi picked up the iron and placed it in the nearby fireplace, to make sure it would be ready for later.

“So… I know this is a question that you never thought you’d be asked, but do you want to do this whole thing without any of our help?” Kanan asked, following Nozomi’s gaze.

“Well, you mentioned this ritual was made by one person for one person, correct? I’d best do it on my own,” She said, picking up the sheathed knife and taking it out, briefly admiring the clean, freshly sharpened edge, before pulling off her shirt. She paused for a second, but to make things easier for herself, she took her bra off as well. Then, Nozomi sat herself down on the stool and closed her eyes for a brief moment, blocking the onlookers out. She inhaled deeply, looking to the sketch before pressing the point of the knife to the skin below her collarbone and above her right breast.

She hissed as it began tearing through her flesh and she let out a shaky breath as she drew the circle and watched the blood run down her chest. Soon, she finished her meticulous circle and was briefly snapped out of her reverie by the worry on everyone’s faces, even the demon’s.

She huffed and turned her attention back to the sketch, clenching her fist as she made five small marks where each point met the edge of the circle. Then, she dragged the knife across her skin again, making the five lines necessary to complete the symbol. Making the final line, she slammed the knife down on the table, doubling over and trying her best not to betray much weakness. The pain was searing and itching and she could only imagine how much more unbearable things were going to get for herself, pressing her hand against the bloodied mark and observing how red her hand was when she pulled it back.

Swallowing, she grabbed one of the towels and wiped her hand off, before then grabbing one of the vials of demon blood and hesitating for just a moment, before pressing the edge of the glass to her lips and downing it all at once, choking instantly and dropping the vial, glass shattering on the tiled floor. Whilst it had all gone, it had left a harsh burn down, like she had ingested raw hellfire rather than blood.

She began to cough, which turned into hacking and nearly retching, but she knew she had to do her best to keep it down. The sensation spread from her throat, to her stomach, to her muscles, getting progressively worse. She didn’t know whether she would have much more time before she would become incapacitated by the agony, so she grabbed the next vial and clenched it tight, slightly worried it would crack under her grip and, as carefully as she could muster, she leaned back and poured the vial over the open wound and involuntarily threw the vial to the floor once again. 

It only seemed to speed up the steadily growing intensity of pain that was reaching every fiber of her being, almost to the very depth of her soul. Or maybe that was the idea. Nozomi doubled over, hugging an arm into herself and digging her nails into her side, choking and coupled with the fact her nerves were on fire, she began to feel just an ounce of regret, as she wasn’t done yet.

Riko looked nearly to the point of fainting, if it hadn’t been for the fact that Kanan and Mari were either side of her, allowing her to look away at particularly painful points and that she had found herself subconsciously leaning on Kanan for support in what was an obviously trying time.

She looked to the cauterising iron, lying in wait on the embers with a glowing point, taking it by the handle and drawing it close to her skin. With a shaking hand, she pressed it to her skin, immediately letting out a pained shout and flinching it away from her. But she shook her head, gritting her teeth and steeling herself furthermore to seal the entirety of the wound and create an admittedly ugly symbol grafted to her chest.

The moment she was finished, Kanan felt it was safe to intervene and immediately ran to support Nozomi, whose body was beginning to fail her, collapsing backwards into her grip. 

“Mari, help me carry her to the bed, Sakurauchi-san, prepare to start cleaning her up.”

Mari and Riko wordlessly carried out their orders, Nozomi still conscious, however deliriously as pain tore through her veins, sweat poured from her and she writhed as though possessed, which didn’t seem so far from the truth now. 

Riko moved to the side of the bed, bringing the bandages and towels and cleaning off the blood that had ran down her body. Then, even though the wound was cauterised, it wouldn’t hurt to wrap it in a bandage as well. Besides, it stood out rather poorly against Nozomi’s fair skin. With a bit of help from Kanan managing to hold Nozomi down firmly enough, Riko managed to apply the bandage and pull back.

“I think this whole process can take a while…” Kanan said, gnawing on a fingernail as Mari frowned.

“Is Nozomi-san still at high risk?” Riko asked, scanning her quickly and watching her knuckles whiten as they gripped the sheets.

“Yes. She’ll be at high risk until she stabilises and comes down from the ritual,” Kanan said, taking a clean towel and wiping it across Nozomi’s forehead, “Minimum twelve hours, maximum twenty four I think. Demon blood is extremely volatile, as one would guess. I think even after she comes through this, she won’t be the same at the other end.”

Nozomi was only vaguely aware of the conversations happening around her and she thought her nerves would burn out after only a few seconds of torture, but they remained agonising and at one particularly violent thrash, she had almost struck Mari who had come over to try and help her become decent once again. Her bra was only barely put back on her, as the trio stepped back, Kanan turning her attention to Dia, or rather, the demon who appeared to be in a sort of stunned trance.

“Are you okay?” 

“I can feel it... “ The demon murmured, “She is a suitable vessel. Full of determination. A desire for revenge.” 

Kanan raised an eyebrow, but she couldn’t question how it was speaking right now when Nozomi was screaming in pain on the bed for God knows how long it would take.

Every minute to Nozomi felt like an hour, as Kanan and Mari decided to intermittently check on Nozomi in shifts to make sure she would never be alone, allowing Dia and Riko to leave and get some rest. Even though she hadn’t been there, Ruby seemed shaken up by the shouts that were leaving the spare room.

Time dragged on through the morning, to the afternoon and soon, the evening. Night overtook day and Nozomi showed little signs of recovery or improvement. That was, until a little bit past midnight, Nozomi had been left a sweating, aching mess on the bed, her nerves still burning, but more of a dull pain than the agony that came before. She was desperate for any amount of air she could get, now that her throat was hoarse and she rolled onto her side.

Mari, who was on shift at the time, blinked, “Nozomi-san? Is it over?” 

“No,” Nozomi shook her head, suddenly sitting up, “It’s only just begun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was a long chapter,,, goddamn i'm actually having fun
> 
> also, big thanks to everyone who commented when i asked! sorry for sounding a little needy, but it really helps aaaa
> 
> oh, and i'm changing the rating up to an m, because of y'know violence and the good stuff that i'm planning, plus, ouch, poor nozo


	8. Chapter 8

Despite everyone’s worry and Kanan and Mari’s insistence that Nozomi should stay resting until they were sure nothing adverse was going to happen to her, Nozomi found herself restless. One would think that after their body undergoing such a ritual, she would be fatigued, broken and aching, but that didn’t seem to be the case. She already wanted to make plans, her mind going a thousand miles a minute. She was aware of her higher capabilities and she was almost itching to prove it.

But she also knew that she had to be subdued. Due to the fact that Kanan didn’t have any available information in the form of writing or books, they couldn’t be too sure of side effects or what additional capabilities had been added, what skills had been enhanced, or how much things affected her mind. But that, to her, was partially all the more reason to actually push onwards. She needed to figure out what she could do that she couldn’t do before and what she could do better, so Kanan decided it was best to cut Nozomi a deal.

She would offer Nozomi a week’s training, to get a handle on just that. Nozomi didn’t want to agree on any time frames, due to the nature of what was happening in her kingdom and now knowing how quickly it would spread, but deep down, she knew that Kanan was right. Nozomi had first enquired about weapons, to which Dia had spoken up.

“Somewhere down the line, before the Kurosawas were merchants, we did have heritage in demon slaying and exorcising. I can’t quite remember how old they are, but,” Dia shrugged, leading Kanan, Mari and Nozomi into a store room of sorts, “They’ll probably be of more use to you then they are in here.”

It took her a few moments, but Dia retrieved a neat looking piece of cloth, bound and covering up something. Dia took it to a nearby desk and placed the candle down on the surface, trying her best to wipe away some of the dust before she stood aside, “Nozomi-san,” She said, bowing her head for just a second, “You should be the one to do this, I think.”

No one seemed to have any doubts and Nozomi stepped in front of the desk, carefully undoing the bow and unfolding the cloth to reveal two daggers in sheaths, the leather aged but intact and stitched with care, golden embossing making up identical crests of a fox on both. Nozomi was inclined to go further, but she looked to Dia, “I can touch them?”

“Yes, of course,” She said with a nod.

She picked one of them up, surprisingly lightweight in her hand before pulling the weapon out of its sheath, the blade slightly curved with a sharp point. The metal handle appeared to have had gold leaf on it at some point, but it had all rubbed off with age. It would need sharpening, but that was to be expected. Other than that, to Nozomi, it felt perfect, the weight, the length and the elegance it carried itself with.

“I can’t tell if it’s to your liking or not, but I hope it’s enough. Or at least something.” 

“They’re perfect,” Nozomi said, placing the one in her hand back in the sheath and checking the other one, finding it was just about identical to the first, “I cannot thank you enough.”

“It’s nothing, really…” 

Nozomi took both of the weapons in their sheaths and then put them in place, patting them to make sure they were secure. She noted how they would be concealed when she was wearing her robe and when enough due thanks were given (even then, Nozomi felt like it wasn’t enough), Kanan took her out towards the spacious back garden.

“So… First question and I know how stupid it might sound, but do you know how to fight?”

Nozomi only chuckled, “It’s not stupid. But yes, I do.”

“Oh, really?” Kanan said, sounding almost surprised, “Ah- Well… I didn’t meant to sound so surprised, it’s just that-”

“No, I understand. No one really expects me to know how to fight. It’s better for me that way to be honest, people end up underestimating me. Royalty and former royalty alike fall into the trap of relying on others for protection.”

“So can you show me?” Kanan said, getting into a ready position, both arms raised.

“Well, you’re probably better than me,” Nozomi said following suit.

“I’m not going to strike back, just evaluate your form to start off with.”

Nozomi nodded at that in fairness, advancing and delivering a few punches which Kanan deflected and blocked with little effort, not that she was unimpressed with her. Kanan had trained and kept her skills polished from a young age, but Nozomi still had to shake her rust off.

But Nozomi felt a sudden need to push Kanan and perhaps surprise her for a second, so she gave two swift hits in succession and managed to take Kanan off guard and strike her in the chest, to which Kanan jumped.

“Oh, I didn’t realise we were playing it like that,” She said, a smirk growing on her face.

“Well, I have to throw in a few surprises here and there, eh? Besides, I’m not an old hag yet.” She chuckled, sending a wink Kanan’s way.

“We can take it a bit further, can’t we in that case?” Kanan said, jabbing at Nozomi, which brushed by her as she barely managed to dodge it in time, “Done enough dancing in the royal ballroom?”

Nozomi chuckled and rolled her eyes, “Sure I have.”

What had started was a mere test of Nozomi’s skills had soon turned into a sparring match, with the both of them deflecting and dodging blows, but also not able to prevent themselves from being hit occasionally. Even though they both made sure to pull their punches, there was definitely a degree of healthy competition.

Then, Nozomi aimed a strike that, if hit, she would just allow her hand to brush past Kanan’s head, just to prove that she could do it, more to herself, than to Kanan. And when Kanan failed to deflect the strike, there was a sudden flash in both their minds.

Nozomi saw Kanan, undoubtedly younger, feeling as though she wasn’t there and was merely watching a disembodied vision. She couldn’t pin how much younger Kanan was, perhaps early teens or even before, sniffling and stood before the corpse of a demon, her blade dripping a black ooze, with a younger Mari stood behind her, equally as shaken.

It was only a brief flash, but Nozomi was soon returned to her own body and Kanan stood stunned in front of her. Subconsciously, Nozomi brought her hand to the inverted pentagram and glanced away, “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I really did, but I’m sorry.”

“Ah, it’s…” Kanan dropped her arms to her sides, “I suppose it’s fine. It’s not your fault.” She said, briefly rubbing where Nozomi had touched her.

“Maybe I’ll have to get some gloves…” 

“Well, we should probably move on,” Kanan said, wanting to move away from the topic, frowning to herself, “You know how to handle those daggers?”

“I’ll need to work on it a little bit, but I can get a handle on it easily enough, I’m sure.”

Nozomi had trained with disarming and using the weapon against the assailant, but it was never the main focus. Of course, Nozomi would only be practicing on dummies, simple stabs to start off with and over the course of the week, evolving into slashes and dodges.

Kanan put her worryingly fast learning and skills down to the ritual. Nozomi had since taken off the bandage on the second day of training, the symbol being fully healed and quite clean looking mark, all things considered. Mari was diligently noting any kinds of effects, both positive and negative whenever she could and whenever Nozomi would permit her. But Nozomi was willing to tell her whenever she felt things were changing and so on.

As the end of the week approached, Nozomi did experience a few difficulties with her body adjusting to the shock of the ritual, such as dizziness, nausea, headaches and a few hallucinations. Nothing too major, even if Mari did look worried at the mention of hallucinations. But they had been minor, just things out of the corner of her eye and things that weren’t really there that were inanimate. Riko had also been doing checkups to make sure there was nothing outwardly wrong with her.

By the end of the week, Kanan seemed especially impressed at her prowess, but whilst that was true, things had spread and gotten worse. Influence was now spreading across oceans and kingdoms and there was little to nothing that could be done thus far and it wasn’t a huge problem.

That was, until Ruby had come back home in a panic from the market, immediately running to Dia. The palace had finally fallen and the city would be next. Upon being told this, Nozomi immediately ran out towards the markets before anyone could stop her, throwing on her robe and keeping her blades hidden.

She’d found that the guard at the gate had fled and so Nozomi felt there was little else she could do except leave it partially open. She was hoping that the panic wouldn’t spread to the upper districts that far.

The weather was turning bad and Nozomi couldn’t help but feel it wasn’t natural, soon coming to the market, which held swathes full of bodies. She shook her head and carefully stepped over them, before soon spotting three figures and Nozomi put in special efforts to catch up and figure out who they were.

She hit behind the crier’s stage and peeked out from behind the wood. Three of them, as she had thought and now that she focused, she could see they had horns. It clicked immediately who they were, but she couldn’t go in when she barely knew what they were capable of. Then, one of them suddenly halted, Nozomi immediately noticing her dark blue hair. She’d have to put characteristics to appearances to start figuring things out about them, even if she harboured a white hot rage towards them.

The devil gestured the two of them to carry on, one with red hair and another with brown, and they both did as they were told without questioning her. She turned on her heel and began to walk back the way they came and towards the stage. Nozomi could sense that she was coming closer and daren’t look.

Then, an arrow shot through the wood beside her head and she knew her cover was blown. With a sigh, she stepped out from behind the stage, only a few meters away from someone with such a piercing stare, she wouldn’t be surprised if she dropped dead then and there. 

Nozomi shrugged, “Well, you have me where you want me.”

“Mm,” She grunted, raising her hand and making a vague flicking motion and Nozomi’s hood fell down, “I knew it was you.”

“You know me?”

“Of course I do. And you know who and what I am.”

“I know for a fact who’s responsible for this,” Nozomi said, gesturing to a body face down beside her.

“That wasn’t all me, but,” She shrugged and sighed, “Sometimes people get in your way. So tell me. What brings a disgraced queen here?”

Nozomi raised an eyebrow at the last part, but she didn’t let it get under her skin, “Well, I couldn’t very well stay in the castle, no?”

“I suppose not. But that’s a roundabout way of answering the question.” She said, folding her arms.

“Can I at least know who I’m talking to first?” Nozomi said, trying to start learning and putting a face to what information the demon had told them before.

“That’s fair,” She said, scrutinising her for a brief second, “Sonoda Umi.”

Nozomi tried not to let it show on her face that she was surprised she was speaking to the leader, the one who brought them all together. In fact, she wasn’t particularly enthused. It would’ve been nice to deal with one of the lesser devils first instead, like Koizumi or Hoshizora.

But Umi had caught on immediately, “I know what you’re trying to do. And for the sake of your health, that you’ve probably already jeopardised, I’d recommend you cease.”

“What if I don’t? What if I’ve already taken an undoable step down the path?”

A look on Umi’s face told Nozomi that she already knew she had, “Then there’ll be a fate worse than death or torture awaiting you.”

“Threats, is it? Are you actually going to fight me or just spew words at me?” Nozomi said, letting some of her resentment bleed into her voice.

“If I were to fight you, you’d be dead before you hit the ground. And I have my pride. Crushing a gnat isn’t satisfying to me.”

“So I’ll prove myself,” Nozomi said, daring to take a step forward, “And you’ll regret ever having travelling to this realm.”

Umi let out an amused huff, glancing over her shoulder, “What you’re going to do doesn’t concern me. I have business to attend to. Places to go, kingdoms to destroy, you see? You’re going to suffer through this as much as the rest of humanity will. Killing you would only cut that short.”

Nozomi only grunted, watching as Umi turned her back and went in the direction of the other two who had long since disappeared, feeling nothing but anger and powerlessness as she simply let her leave. But deep down, she knew Umi was correct. Their fight would be unbalanced and she would die when she’d barely even begun. Umi had been instrumental in the death of her wife and felt nothing for it.

~

Nozomi had promptly returned, as much heartache as it caused her. She took a bit of paper, a quill and some ink and wrote up the names of the seven targets she had to get through.

_“Koizumi”_

_“Hoshizora”_

_“Nishikino”_

_“Minami”_

_“Kousaka”_

_“Yazawa”_

_“Sonoda”_

She let it rest on the desk, staring daggers at the names before shaking her head. She couldn’t get ahead of herself. She had to think, to plan, to rationalise and to be patient. 

From what the demon had told them, Koizumi sounded like the easiest target. She would need to check a few things though beforehand. She didn’t even know the location of any of them too precisely. She knew that Maki was within the kingdom, as was Sonoda, but she didn’t know who the brunette was.

“Nozomi-san?” 

Her attention snapped away from the list and she straightened herself up, “Ah, Dia-san. Is everything alright?”

“I was just wondering if you needed anything. And if you were okay after seeing the marketplace…”

Nozomi’s expression turned into a genuine smile, “I’m fine, thank you. But there is something you could do for me,” She said, approaching her, “I need to speak with your demon.”

Dia made an uneasy expression, “I… Don’t really know how to call upon it. It just sort of pops up sometimes. It might be able to hear you, but I’m not sure.”

Nozomi glanced at her hand for a second, “If this doesn’t work it’s going to seem very strange, but hear me out,” She said and before Dia could speak, she pressed a thumb against her forehead and the next moment Dia closed her eyes, they were open again, dark blue flooding through.

“Ah-! Bloody hell!” The demon snapped, “What’s all this about? I was just taking a nap…”

“My apologies, but I need information. Do you know of a brown haired devil?” 

“Yes. That one. It’s Koizumi,” The demon said indignantly, “Was that it? You couldn’t have waited?”

“No. Things have spread to this kingdom too. I needed to identify one of the devils before they had a chance to move on or anything like that.”

The demon fell silent for a few seconds at that revelation, “Well… Is there anything else you want to know? Or can I go back?”

“Yes, yes, you can go back,” Nozomi sighed, turning her back on Dia for a second as she walked her way back to her desk, Dia slumping against the doorframe for a moment.

“Did you just…?”

“Yep. Sorry if that was wrong of me.”

“It’s okay. I understand.” Dia said, pausing briefly, “Erm… Can I ask you something? What was she like?”

Nozomi turned back to her, her expression now more pained, “About Elichi?”

Dia nodded silently and Nozomi pulled the seat at her desk back, “What can I really say about my wife that hasn’t been repeated over a thousand cliches before? You were a fan of hers I take it?”

“I was a ‘fan’ I suppose, of the both of you,” Dia said with a shrug, “It never really crossed my mind that anything like this would happen.”

“I don’t really think anyone could’ve foreseen this, aside from a very talented fortune teller. But now,” Nozomi stood, “We have to make the most of the situation we’re in. Or at the very least, find a way to fight back.”

“Mm. Sorry if I brought back bad memories,” Dia said, looking apologetic.

“It’s alright, Dia-san. It’s good to talk about these kinds of things anyway. And I’d rather be open than closed to people who are trying to help me. Right now though, I need to talk to Kanan-san.”

Dia nodded and stood aside so that Nozomi could leave down the corridor, “She was just in the kitchen with Mari.”

Nozomi nodded and headed there, opening up the door slowly, “Kanan-san? Sorry to disturb.”

“Oh, it’s fine, you’re not disturbing us,” Kanan said, turning to lean against the counter, “Something you want to talk about?”

“Ah, yeah,” Nozomi said, shutting the door behind herself, “You’ve heard about the marketplace I take it?”

Kanan frowned, “Yeah… Dia told us about it, from Ruby-chan.”

“I’m going to investigate the castle tonight. Something tells me they’ll be using that as a base of operations, or at the very least one of them assigned to a kingdom.”

“Do you want us to come along?” Kanan asked, glancing to Mari, but Nozomi shook her head.

“I don’t see that as the best idea. These are beyond demons. Besides, this is something that’s becoming more and more personal to me.”

“We understand… But if you ever need any help, then don’t hesitate to ask. It is our fight too.” Mari said, glancing to Kanan for quick affirmation.

“I’ll gladly take the help if I ever need it. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

~

Nozomi had warned Riko of her plan, just in case when she came back she was in an awful state, but that was the least of her worries. If she did intend to face a devil head on, fighting who was perceived to be the weakest seemed like the best idea. With luck, Nishikino and Sonoda would move on and leave Koizumi to this kingdom. With not so much luck, Sonoda would stay, or even worse, all three of them. But it would only be a scout if that were the case, even if it seemed that Sonoda could tell where she was.

Nozomi headed out that night, under the cover of darkness. There was an awful stench in the air, permeating from the bodies left to rot in the streets now that no one dared to clean them up and there was no government to fix things. She held her sleeve to her nose and pushed on, skirting around the marketplace and looking up at the castle. Larger than which one she would formerly call her own, but smaller was humbler and cosier and she honestly preferred it to what now gave off a cold aura. But the situation with this castle was very different to her former home, especially now.

She braved the steps of the castle, then pushed the wooden door open with ease, having momentarily forgotten her own strength, boots hitting the tiled floor and echoing in an uncomfortable silence. She could tell the interior had become twisted, statues with once proud faces and poses having become portraits of misery instead. The paintings looked singed and some even reduced to ashes below their golden frames and the ground below her had become slightly uneven, with tiles and stone raised and lowered beyond any kind of reasonable craftsmanship or amount of time they had been there. 

There was a strange aura in the castle, reverberating through the walls, but Nozomi couldn’t feel Sonoda’s presence. Maybe that was just a trick of the energy here though, so she couldn’t let her guard down. But there was something amidst the slight trickery, something that grew with each step closer. Strangely enough, it didn’t feel very hostile, as she had felt from Nishikino prior and it wasn’t as downright malicious as Sonoda. It was… Timid.

‘Ah,’ Nozomi thought, recalling the demon’s descriptions, ‘Koizumi perhaps?’

She was now beginning to approach the throne room, but she noticed that the layout of the castle was still twisted, so she couldn’t have been too sure. She had been here once or twice on a few royal occasions and balls, namely with Eli of course.

For a brief second, out of the corner of her eye, she could swear that she could see the ballroom again, but it was just her and Eli. No one else, no band, just the two of them facing each other, fingers intertwined, Eli’s hand on Nozomi’s back, with Nozomi’s hand on Eli’s shoulder.

But now wasn’t the time to reminisce. Irritably, she thumbed beneath her eye to make sure there wasn’t even the hint of a tear threatening to spill over as she made her way to a set of double doors once again. The journey from the front door had been elongated, she knew that much. No main hall was as spacious as that and even from the outside, it didn’t look like much had changed.

Upon opening the next door, Nozomi only found an identical corridor to the one she had traversed before. She paused for just a moment, just to gather her bearings and then rubbed the symbol above her chest in slight irritation. Attempts at slowing her down would only make things worse for whoever intended to face her at the end of all this. 

She figured that the corridor was looping and began to investigate other doors around the room, her muscles growing tenser, but thankfully the presence she felt somewhere within the castle didn’t seem as though it was getting closer. She had no intention of giving up and thus, made her way to the nearest door, from what she remembered, it was only to a storeroom, but with the castle the way it was, anything could happen and she was sure of it.

Besides, there was a little feeling in her head that told her this was the right way and she confidently threw the door open. Well, at least it wasn’t another identical corridor, she thought, as she headed through, now just a smaller room with a lit chandelier. As her back was turned, the door slammed shut and she looked out of instinct, only to find that there was no door, or at least, the door had just disappeared. No visible exits.

But it still wasn’t that she intended to give up or rot away here. She felt along the walls until coming across a strange set of stones in the wall, with little to nothing joining them together. Cautiously, she worked a finger through the gaps between them. There was nothing to hold them up, so what could it have been? There was a strange force and Nozomi stepped back, scrutinizing before her pentagram held a slight burning sensation, then it spread to her shoulder and down her arm to her fingertips. 

Her initial reaction was a small panic, something that she felt was beyond her control, but she realised it was a part of her now and she was the one in control, not whatever she had let into her body at all. She raised her hand and held them up to the stones and they began to move apart, quite slowly and heavily but this was something she would probably need to practice with. Soon enough, another area was open to her.

She spotted the throne, somewhat shrouded amongst the dim candlelight. She couldn’t see any figures around, but this was certainly where the presence lay. She walked to the bottom of the steps and glanced around, taking off her robe and throwing it to the side, “One of you is here, I know that for a fact.”

“Can you promise me something?” A voice came from somewhere that she couldn’t quite pinpoint, even as she looked around the room; the entirety of it.

“Depends on the promise,” She responded cautiously, drawing her blades, but keeping them by her sides.

“When I show myself, don’t attack.”

“What games are you playing?” Nozomi said, managing a humourless laugh, “Only if you promise not to attack me either, but I don’t know how good your word is.”

“L-look…” In a puff of dark green smoke, the brunette she recognised from earlier appeared, “I just want to talk.”

Nozomi faced her with her full body, her facial expression wearing somewhat tired now that she was blades reach within a culprit of this whole situation. But Nozomi was a person of her word. Sadly.

“And what’s there to talk about? How you drove my lover to near madness and have ripped the mortal world to shreds?”

“I-it isn’t what you think... “ She flinched, realising that wasn’t the proper choice of words, “I mean… I’m not what you think.”

Nozomi raised the blade to point at her, “You better be a fast talker.”

“Right…” She nodded, her expression faltering, “I never intended to be a part of this… O-or even a part of their group…”

“You’re telling me you were dropped in such a group at such a status by mistake?”

“No… No mistakes. Only force,” She said, shaking her head.

“And you want me to be sympathetic, because…?”

“I’m… I’m not asking you to be sympathetic, but I want to help…”

“To help?” Nozomi raised an eyebrow, “And why would I trust your help in any way, shape or form?”

“I can prove to you that I’m not wholly bad. I didn’t start off as a devil,” She said, shaking her head, “I-I’m an angel… Technically fallen, I suppose…” She fiddled with her hands, as though highly embarrassed at what she had become.

Nozomi blinked in her direction, not being able to stop herself from lowering her blade with a frown, “I need proof. Forgive me if it’s hard to imagine you as one of the harbingers of salvation. Even then, fallen angels are no longer those.”

She paused for a second and a pair of wings unfolded from her back, grey feathers instead of white, but definitely proof. Nozomi reached out to touch them to make sure it wasn’t a simple illusion and whilst the devil flinched, she allowed Nozomi to perform her test, before she grunted out a begrudging approval.

“Let’s say I trust you. What will you do to help me? And possibly most importantly, why?”

“I’ll feed you information… About whereabouts and abilities and so on, b-but I might ask for a few favours… Nothing too big though! As for why,” She looked away for a second, “This is all wrong… Both Heaven and Hell right now. In-In my eyes, Umi-chan’s gone too far and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want a little bit of revenge.”

“Koizumi, correct?” When Hanayo nodded, she continued, “Your favours. Tell me about them.”

“They’re nothing specific… Just little things I might want you to do, but you don’t have to. My first one, is erm… Don’t hurt Rin-chan.”

“Why not?” Nozomi asked, folding her arms, only one blade unsheathed now.

“She doesn’t… Doesn’t mean to be bad, I suppose. It’s more like the world’s a bit of a playground to her… I was her and Maki-chan’s friend, before they, well… They didn’t know what I was until after they’d made their deals.” Hanayo said, seeming sad to recall the story. 

As much as it was difficult to swallow and a massive risk to be trusting one of the enemy, her instincts were telling her that Hanayo wasn’t inherently evil. Regardless of the details causing her to fall into this mess, the little voice and her manifested instincts after the ritual were believing that she was telling the truth.

“One final test,” Nozomi said, looking at her hand before raising it to Hanayo, slightly surprised to see that she wasn’t cowering back or anything like that. She touched her head, like she had done with Kanan and a flash came to her, a bombardment of memories, but it was no accident the ones she were being shown.

All within a second, she received the memories of Hanayo being talked to sternly by Umi, spending a night somewhat unwillingly with Kotori and with one recurring name being told to her over and over again.

_“The mediator.”_

Nozomi shook her head and let her arm return to her side, not allowing her expression to falter amidst the barrage of memories, if not a little bit of emotional bleed as well, “Fine. I’ll take some pity on you. I need your name.”

“Koizumi Hanayo,” She said meekly and Nozomi grunted an approval.

“Right. Toujou Nozomi, as you probably know. And the deal will go on my terms.”

“Fair enough…” She nodded.

“So, you said you’d give me information? You cannot inform the rest of them what you’re telling me, directly or indirectly. If you do, deal’s over and I’ll hunt you down like I want intending to do before. Your favours are at my discretion and when I’m done with your group, you’ll go peacefully with them.”

As much as Hanayo knew she was getting the bad deal, in order for her to redeem herself and seemingly only to herself and to ensure balance of the realms, she knew she had to accept the deal in front of her. Besides, she didn’t mind too much, as long as Nozomi accepted and she wasn’t being unpleasantly forced back into Hell.

“I accept,” Hanayo said, “Can I borrow your knife?”

Nozomi eyed her cautiously and handed one of them over and watching Hanayo raise it to the palm of her right hand and slash it, then handing the blade back.

“You do the same,” She said, holding her palm open and watching with a slightly pained expression the black blood flow from her. Nozomi copied the action and then Hanayo offered her hand to her, “Blood oath… Difficult to break.” She said with a small shrug, a little bashfully.

Nozomi hummed and took it and whilst the feeling was minimal, she felt the aura shift around the two of them and Hanayo soon removed her hand, the wound on it quickly healing, as Nozomi looked to her own. It was worrying to see the black ooze mixing with with her own (thankfully still), red blood. She felt the symbol on her chest pulse and a small, dark and purple energy flashed over the wound and gave off a small, but noticeable puff of smoke of the same colour, swiftly healing up. But right now wasn’t a time to think about what was happening to her own body. After all, if she saw it as merely a vessel and the soul was what mattered, then her body could be torn apart for all she cared. So long as she exacted what she wanted to do.

“Right…” Nozomi mumbled, facing Hanayo full on and sheathing her weapon properly, “Tell me where Hoshizora is.”

Hanayo looked a little bit sad for a moment, before she nodded in agreement. She had made a deal after all, “In the next kingdom over. I don’t know where each of us are going to reside just yet, but… She’s not in the castle, I don’t think. She’ll be in the Sovereign Houses.”

“Is political debate and diplomacy something she enjoys?” Nozomi asked with a raised eyebrow.

“No… The opposite really. Rin-chan was never really interested, I think she’s just there because she’s being told that she should go. That’s all there is to it really.”

“So you knew her? Before her deal?” When Hanayo nodded, Nozomi hummed, “Tell me about her.”

“Well… I-I suppose all you need to know is, that I failed to protect both her and Maki-chan… Rin-chan was innocent and my best friend… It all gets a little too personal for me sometimes.” 

Hanayo shrugged, but she seemed to be holding back quite a large degree of information and Nozomi couldn’t really detect any lies. If anything, she felt nothing but sadness coming from her. She would have to accept that entire thing as truth really, but trust was not something she wanted to get used to when she dealt with each and every one of them. And she would make sure that she got through them, most likely through violence. They’d gone to a lot of effort to ensure that they had come to the mortal world essentially unrivalled and unchallenged.

“Um… Pardon me for prying a bit, but you’ve done something to yourself, haven’t you?” She said, looking a bit uneasy as she spoke, “I-I can feel it… Demonic presence that is.”

“Yes… But I haven’t been this way for too long.”

“Right,” Hanayo nodded thoughtfully, “Well, I think you’re virtually connected to Hell in some way now,” She shrugged, “Can I try something?”

“I suppose,” Nozomi said, watching warily as Hanayo made her way behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder and using her other hand to guide her arm to be outstretched, fingers open and her palm facing the floor. But when nothing happened for a few seconds, Nozomi glanced over her shoulder, quirking an eyebrow, “Is something supposed to happen?”

“Ah… Hold on a second,” She said, her brow furrowing in concentration, adjusting her hand grip and the moment her hand made contact with the symbol on Nozomi’s collarbone, the sensation from before spread to the tips of her fingers and where her palm was pointed, the cobbled stone split and cracked, shifting aside as hellish sounds erupted from it. Nozomi couldn’t help but startled and suddenly draw her hand back, looking to Hanayo for an immediate explanation.

“You can open up small portals to Hell. If-if you weaken us enough and manage to banish us through the portal, we’ll be unable to return,” Hanayo stepped back and put space between the two of them again.

“Can I not deal enough damage to kill?”

“Not really. You won’t be able to damage any of our souls and that’s what keeps us anchored here. If you destroy the body, the soul will leave and gather a physical form again. If you were to have killed me, I would’ve come back and I wouldn’t stop coming back unless you agreed to me helping.”

Nozomi opened her mouth to say something, but then realised that without Hanayo, she would likely have been able to affect nothing. Evil would keep reforming and she would have been able to do nothing about it. She shook her head, “Right… I’ll trust you for now.”

“I wouldn’t have shown you the portal if I was planning anything… Please keep that in mind.”

“Mm,” Nozomi grunted, “Can I leave now? This place is giving me a headache.”

“Yeah, I think in life Umi-chan was an interior decorator.”

Hanayo’s tone was sarcastic and it managed to get a snort out of Nozomi, even if she clearly wasn’t in the mood for any jokes. 

But soon, Hanayo waved her hand and a section of the wall and it rather peacefully split apart to reveal the outside, “You sound like you know about the Sovereign Houses… Everyone else are going to be holding specific political locations across kingdoms. Mostly the castles, with the exception of Rin-chan, Kotori-chan and… Maki-chan I think.”

“In last name terms?” 

“O-oh, right, I forget sometimes… Hoshizora, Minami and Nishikino. Everyone will probably be able to feel your presence when you enter the buildings they’re in, so they will probably have the element of surprise no matter what you do.” 

“Right…” Nozomi said, facing the doorway back towards the outside, “I’ll see you soon I take it.”

Hanayo nodded solemnly, before watching Nozomi slip out, the wall shutting back as if nothing had ever happened. There was a brief moment of clarity for Nozomi, where she felt as though that had all been simply a very surreal yet realistic dream. She even wondered whether she had actually been inside at all, knowing what a penchant the group had for elaborate illusions, but it felt real. The slight sting below her collarbone, the knowledge she needed to go to what would probably be her first real fight.

It didn’t fill her with an awful lot of confidence. She remembered most of, if not all of the attacking and defending techniques she had learnt over the years, but it had all been in a controlled environment with a largely predictable opponent. The devils were volatile, dangerous and wholly as bad an opponent as she could possibly face. Nozomi thought to herself that she had gotten into quite a large mess now that she thought about it. Demons, devils, angels, and fallen ones at that. 

Starting on the trek back to the Kurosawa household, Nozomi wondered if it could possibly get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh ye gods how am i going to write action scenes
> 
> oh and happy new year y'all, my new years resolution is not to /die/


	9. Chapter 9

Just to be safe, Nozomi had had a quick check up with Riko, who was concerned about the consequences of her newfound abilities on both her mind and body, there was nothing wrong with her really. If anything, she seemed to be in a peak condition, almost unnaturally so. That was the only worry.

Nozomi shrugged off anything like that though. Worrying was probably what this strange new presence would end up thriving on, if it would inevitably take her body, then she would make sure that it would be when her task was complete. 

She returned to her list and realised that she hadn’t really done a lot to neutralise Koizumi. In fact, she’d made a pact with her and the ever so slight scar on her hand reminded her of that. Experimentally, she had given herself a small cut which had also healed up. But seeing as it left no scar, she knew this was some sort of blood oath mark. So, she simply left her name on the list. Not a threat, but not exactly someone she wanted to get comfortable around either.

“Nozomi-san?” Kanan stood in the doorway, arms folded, “What happened?”

Nozomi didn’t exactly feel inclined to reveal the pact that she’d made, but at the same time, keeping her allies in the dark was something that was not to be done.

“I have information. Koizumi got away, but I was able to get something out of her at least.”

Of course, it was a lie, but not necessarily an evil one, so it was morally acceptable, she reasoned. 

“And that is…?”

“I need to go to the Sovereign Houses,” She said, “Hoshizora will be there.”

“Right… That’s in the next kingdom over. And this time you’re not going along. At the very least, not going alone to travel there,” Kanan said, leaning against the doorframe, “And you’re not going to be able to insist against this.”

“I understand that…” Nozomi paused, “But please, I have to face them all alone. It’s far too dangerous for any of you, as you are, to do it too.”

“Yeah, yeah. But solitude gets to you after a while,” Mari popped up behind Kanan, peeking over her shoulder and seeming to speak from a degree of experience, “I’ve also started writing down a written account of the devils, names, appearances; abilities. I’d like to tag along too. I’m not sure about Dia, Ruby-chan and Riko-chan though.”

“Well, the only way to find out is to ask them,” Kanan said, sending a glance over her shoulder at Mari, “We should gather somewhere I suppose…”

They came to the conclusion that it was best to meet in the lounge. Ruby looked as nervous as ever, which she couldn’t be blamed for of course. Riko was fidgeting a little bit, but Nozomi knew that she would likely step up to whatever was asked of her, or even not asked. Dia looked remarkably calm all things considered.

Nozomi clasped her hands together and looked at the map that she had retrieved at Kanan’s direction. She paced around the table and began to speak, “I’ve received information on my next target. It will require a journey to reach and whilst I have no problems travelling large distances, I wouldn’t want to impose on any of you my own personal vendettas.”

That might have been the wrong choice of wording, but no one seemed to pick her apart for that. Everyone had a stake in this fight, otherwise the world as everyone knew it would fall into the hands of the wrong forces. The world as its whole was never meant to be in anyone’s hands. But regardless, Nozomi especially held chained up, white hot rage in her heart that even she was starting to grow somewhat worrisome of. It was something to keep a check on, at least.

“And I must confess,” Nozomi pivoted and halted to face the group that had gathered, “I don’t feel as though I’m the safest person to be around. I have a target painted on my back and I’m going after some of the most dangerous beings to exist. So I’ll completely understand those who don’t want to go.”

“Kanan-chan and I are going, of course. But we wanted to consult everyone to see what kind of plans we should make up for every one of us to be safe,” Mari said, standing up next to Nozomi, “Very few places are safe right now.”

“I should come along as well…” Dia spoke up, “And I think my… _Friend_ , would agree with me. But, Ruby…” Dia frowned as she turned to her sister, “I’m… Not really comfortable with you coming. It’s down to you, at the end of it all, but… As I said, I would prefer you to be safe.”

Ruby was obviously scared by the whole thing. Demons, devils, uprisings, riots and more, it was all too much for Ruby to think about. All the wasted life and things that could probably kill her with a flick of the wrist. She nodded meekly to agree with Dia, “I-if I was a little braver I would come along… But I think you’re right, onee-chan. But I don’t really want to stay here.”

“How about with Hanamaru at the shrine? I actually already sent a message off, so that way we wouldn’t drop in on her by surprise.”

“Shrine?” Nozomi raised an eyebrow, obviously thinking that religious areas weren’t safe either.

“Buddhist and Shinto shrines are worshipping areas that weren’t affected,” Dia said, crossing her legs and folding her arms, “Whether or not that’s an indication of the true faith that exists isn’t any of my business, but we checked on Hanamaru-san when some of the news broke about the destruction of churches. If there’s anywhere that’s safe right now, that’s probably the safest.”

Ruby seemed happy enough with that outcome, even if it meant that she wouldn’t be able to see her sister for a decent amount of time. There was also the conclusion that the house should become uninhabited, at least for the duration of time it took for this whole mess to be sorted out, if it ever was to be. Nozomi’s presence hung around here and Nozomi was convinced that meant it was unsafe.

Riko had agreed to travel with Nozomi, as she had promised from the moment they set out after getting off the boat. Besides, she had nowhere else to go and it didn’t feel right for her to go encroaching on the Kunikida’s shrine if she herself had no prior relation to the family.

So, it was settled. Nozomi, Kanan, Mari, Dia and Riko would travel and Ruby would stay within safety. Dia promised to get messages to her whenever she could, but with the current climate who knew when communication would be made possible on a consistent basis. 

Nozomi didn’t want to waste any time, so she urged everyone to get their things sorted. No one had any arguments, even if Ruby seemed teary-eyed about the whole thing. Dia had followed her to undoubtedly offer some comfort and everyone else felt it best to leave them be.

“Is Ruby-chan going to be okay?” Nozomi asked, raising an eyebrow as she walked with Kanan and Mari back to the spare rooms.

“I’m sure she will be… I think Ruby-chan has been trying to become more independent and less reliant on Dia, so this might be good for her… In loose terms,” Mari said, glancing over some of the notes she’d made, “Not the whole apocalypse thing though…”

“I don’t think that’s particularly good for anyone.” Kanan mused, watching Nozomi enter her own room before she leant against the doorway and paused, “You don’t really have any changes of clothes, do you? You can borrow some of mine.”

“I… Wouldn’t want to impose,” Nozomi said, absentmindedly tugging at her shirt collar.

“If we’re travelling, it’s hardly imposing. And we’re about the same size.”

“Plus the markets are… Closed,” Mari said diplomatically, “You can borrow some of mine too. We’re actually about the same size too, give or take a few inches.” 

“Thank you for the offer,” Nozomi smiled and nodded once towards the both of them before gathering up what little she had in regards of essentials and a few extra things. Kanan and Mari left her to her own devices for the time being, not that it would take very long for her to pack everything up.

Dia came back in shortly to check on her, saying that there would be plenty of money available on her part, not that it would be too useful due to the simple fact that markets were collapsing, as was civilised society in general. There might be the odd bar here and there, maybe an inn put in the middle of a long road that wouldn’t be too bothered about whether or not money was as functional as before. Money was money to some people.

Riko also came in to check on her. Riko had been rather worried about Nozomi, of course she had. She had known Eli and seen what had happened to her and she could only imagine how tough it was for a spouse to watch and witness that. Powerless was a word that sprung to mind for her. But Nozomi was ever dismissive and insistent that no one should worry about her, but that often had the opposite effect on many people, Riko included. Reluctantly, she’d left, not wanting to instill the fear of God (no irony intended), in her.

Nozomi left her room and placed her bag downstairs, before heading into the Kurosawa’s back garden. This would probably be some of her last moments of serenity before her life spiralled even further into a place where she’d never thought it would go. She thought to Ueda-san, but thought it best not to linger too much on that. Ueda-san had likely passed peacefully (or at least, she hoped), at this point. No one should ever live so long and witness the virtual end of the world when they’re close to natural death.

Strolling through the gardens was a favourite pastime of Nozomi’s. Even if she didn’t exactly know how to garden and felt as though it would be too much of a hassle on the staff to learn, she enjoyed learning the names of the plants that grew at least. The cherry blossoms that arrived every Spring were something she could never wait to see upon the arrival of the new year. 

Whether she was with Eli or not, a walk was always welcome. Away from politics and generals and armies. An invasion could’ve occurred whilst she was in the gardens for all she cared, as long as Eli, herself and the calm surrounding the area remained, she would’ve requested five more minutes, even if there was a sword to her throat.

The Kurosawa’s garden was different, of course. It was smaller and didn’t have the exoticism that one would potentially expect, but it would do. Maybe she felt as though her past self was dying and this was the last thing it would see. But who knew what would replace that self. She worried about losing herself to anger or vengeance and becoming sloppy or outright cruel.

As she caressed the petals of a flower, she sensed Dia’s approach, accentuated by the demon possession and realised that she had had much less time than she would’ve liked to. Dia seemed reluctant to actually speak, almost as though feeling somewhat bad for the fact that she had to wrench Nozomi back to an unfortunate reality.

“Is everyone ready?” Nozomi asked, deciding to make it easier for her.

“Yes,” Dia nodded once, “We would like to head off as soon as possible, but understand if you want to spend a little bit more time. Obviously not too much though.”

Nozomi let the flower out of her gentle grip, before letting out a hum, “Alright. I’ve spent enough time.”

Dia looked like she was about to ask if she was sure, but it probably wasn’t best to poke Nozomi on a lot of things right now. Even if she would be polite about them, Dia didn’t want to be or seem a nuisance.

With not another word and not another look shared between the two, Nozomi followed Dia back to the front hall, where everyone was waiting with a mix of expressions, the air charged and threatening to crackle if anyone dared open their mouths to speak. 

But someone had to break the silence and the only person that dared for the time being was Kanan, “Are we all ready?”

There was another pause and Nozomi couldn’t help but feel like the whole thing was horribly awkward.

“Let’s go before any of us loses our nerve,” Nozomi decided to cut through the silence, pushing the door open and glancing up at the sun that was halfway through the sky. They would probably have half a day or so of travel before either having to find an inn to stay at, or, if worse came to worst, camp out. Nozomi could guess that Kanan and Mari were accustomed to such conditions, but both herself and Dia were not. They likely wouldn’t have to worry about whether or not Ruby would be staying with them, as Nozomi had been assured that the shrine wasn’t that far away.

So it was to the shrine first. Nozomi had no problems with that and she doubted that placements of any of the devils would change so quickly. With control over the realm, they would probably only need to crush the occasional uprising here and there, at least, until humanity was subservient to their whims, or until they were wiped out altogether. Nozomi didn’t intend on letting either of those things come to pass, at least, whilst she still had the ability to draw breath.

She made a small note to talk to Dia’s demon about Hoshizora before they arrived at the Sovereign Houses. She knew the overview, but it didn’t hurt to be more prepared when it came to this kind of enemy. Nozomi was to be as patient as she could manage and possibly beyond that.

Dia had offered to hold some more of Ruby’s things, but had respectfully declined. Nozomi could tell that their dynamic was a strong one, but perhaps a little bit too strong, if Ruby was to become more independent. Dia might have trouble backing off as well, at certain points, used to responsibilities and helping her younger sister, no matter what the issue may be, or if it could have been resolved without her help.

Prior to them heading out, Kanan had already mapped suitable routes to both the Kunikida shrine and to the Sovereign Houses, avoiding major landmarks, areas of population and potentially markets. When they got to certain places, Kanan had decided that she and potentially Mari would go and scout out the area to ensure that it was either safe to cut through, or still active enough for them to stock up.

Whatever happened, there would likely be a contingency plan, or hopefully enough time to think one up. Thankfully, their first stop wasn’t too far away. There would be a decent amount of stair climbing, Dia had warned, but if there was any way to start getting into the swing of walking everywhere instead of relying on horseback, staircases were it Nozomi supposed. And to be up in the mountains was likely to be an advantage when an apocalypse was occuring. 

The group of them skirted around the markets and past the ruins of a burnt out church, a depressing reminder as well as a sobering one. Nonetheless, Nozomi had no desire to give up and her motivation burned the brightest out of all of them. 

Upon arriving at the very bottom of the steps, they looked like they ascended as far as the eye could see, disappearing amongst fog and cloud. Climb seemed an understatement at this point, but Kanan took the first step up, “No time to waste really, is there?”

Oddly though, Nozomi felt almost as though there was all the time in the world. She supposed that that was what a lack of both royal engagements and eerie silence would do to someone. Whilst there was a hurry in the back of her mind, it felt nowhere near as real as it should have done. It was almost surreal. She could almost feel her worries and fears melting away as she undertook the first step as well and inevitably more. It was familiar and comforting, if nothing else, being raised in what was virtually a shrine herself.

They devolved into their own conversations, apart from Nozomi, who seemed to keep to herself, but she couldn’t help but notice her name thrown around a few times in Dia and Ruby’s conversation, but it would be rude to eavesdrop.

She didn’t need to worry it seemed. Ruby, surprisingly, came up to Nozomi’s side, sending a glance at her sister, whom Nozomi couldn’t see, before nervously opening her mouth to speak. Nozomi knew that she would probably have to break down that royal wall that was constructed, somewhat to her annoyance, once again, “N-Nozomi-san…”

“Hm?” Nozomi hummed in a soft tone. She didn’t want to be harsh with Ruby at all and from what she could gather, Dia had been a fan of royalty, so it reasonably extended to say Ruby was the same.

“What was it like…? B-being queen that is?”

“Well,” It was difficult to know where to start, “Of course, it was wonderful. To be at Elichi’s side, to travel with little worry and to meet so many people. They weren’t always the nicest, but the experience was mostly worth it. Ruby-chan,” Nozomi turned her head to look at her, at which Ruby startled, “Do you enjoy being a Kurosawa?”

Nozomi could almost hear Dia’s eyebrow raising at that; Ruby anxiously fiddling with the strap of her bag, “W-well… There’s a lot of pressure,” Ruby mumbled, sensing that Nozomi wanted to know the truth and not a diplomatic answer for the sake of her older sister, “But I try my best…”

“What kind of pressure?”

“T-to memorise a lot of things… Learn about business… But I’m not very good at haggling and that stuff…”

“Do you need to learn about this kind of business? Surely both you and Dia could work in tandem with each other, both in what you’re best at?” Nozomi suggested, even if it likely was an eventuality that Dia and Ruby had realised before.

“Papa always said that it was best to have a rounded expertise in case we were doing different things and so on…” Ruby said, tightening her grip for a moment on the bag strap.

“You know, the woman who was virtually my mother, Ueda-san,” Nozomi began, “Told me almost the exact same thing. She taught me how to do tarot, but also forced me to learn palm reading, tea leaf reading and quite a few other things. She told me it was about wider understanding of a subject and that it was good to examine all parts of something, instead of just looking subjectively at one.” Nozomi chuckled, “I hated it at the time, but now I see that what she said had its merits. That you can’t be good at one thing and expect to be an expert in every aspect of it. And motivation to learn helps as well.”

“I… Suppose that makes sense,” Ruby nodded thoughtfully.

“But… I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it probably doesn’t matter right now… And it might not matter even when everything’s over,” Nozomi remarked, “Granted, it’s not all a source of misery, you know? It can be a chance to begin anew, remodel yourself and the family name, whilst still bringing honour to it.”

Ruby blinked and nodded, “That’s a really positive way of looking at it.”

“If I can manage to be positive, then I think anyone can,” Nozomi sent a smile towards Ruby, who nearly looked as though she was about to fall down the stairs at that.

“Ruby, you okay?” Dia asked, raising an eyebrow at her.

“Yes!” She squeaked, “I’m fine!”

Nozomi looked onwards, up the still amounting steps as Ruby and Dia devolved back into their own conversation. She was fine with being alone with her thought, but if she was honest, company was always nice. She could only imagine how little she could’ve gone on whilst only her own thoughts existed in her head.

Nozomi decided to go on ahead. If anyone wanted to talk to her specifically, then she would welcome it, but small talk felt like it didn’t belong in her head. Maybe this made her difficult to approach, but she felt as though her companions would know her better, if they truly wanted a conversation.

“Nozomi?” It was Riko that spoke this time, having caught up to her, “I was just curious… Are you religious at all?”

“Well… Not as devout as some people might have liked, but I do believe in a higher power. Or powers. Whatever those may be though, well, it’s all beyond me. You can believe whatever you want, as long as you’re not trying to force or harm people in my eyes.”

“That’s a fair way of looking at it. But I suppose this whole thing would prove a faith correct, maybe?” Riko suggested.

“Hm, well… There’s a quote that I feel all faiths of the world need to adhere to. That there are many paths up the mountain, but all reach the summit. It doesn’t matter what you believe, in some cases,” Nozomi mused aloud, “So long as you have faith at least in one way.”

“Do you feel like the higher power has abandoned us though? To let this happen?” 

Nozomi could tell that was a question from someone of dwindling faith. But tests of faith were inevitable all throughout life, however even Nozomi could admit that there was just a hint of cruelty to leave humanity like this.

“Well… I don’t know for sure, of course. Maybe they feel as though we can resolve this on our own. Maybe it’s a god’s turn to have faith in us.”

“That’s an optimistic way of seeing things,” Riko hummed before she could stop herself apparently, “Not that that’s a bad thing, of course-!”

“What do I have left now, but optimism?” Nozomi sighed before looking onwards again and being able to spot a thin outline. She felt as though she were a teenager going on her first pilgrimage again, to when she had first met Eli. Nozomi felt her head start to ache, but she doubled her efforts to reach the top, Riko falling behind for the time being.

She was the first to reach the summit, immediately feeling a wave of nostalgia. Of course, it wasn’t the same place that she and Eli had met, but it felt eerily similar.

“My father’s in failing health. My mother is gone and my sister’s too young. Becoming queen seems… Unreal.”

She realised she had zoned out, with her companions by her sides and giving her varying degrees of worried looks. Eli’s voice rang in her ears, as though she were right next to her once again and she felt empty; devoid. Shaking her head, she ignored anyone’s silent questions and pushed onwards to the very entrance, where she felt as though it would be best for Dia and Ruby to lead the way inside. But there was something strange inside, she could feel it.

Dia went inside first, raising an eyebrow at the sight of what looked like refugees packed together, even if it was reasonable that people had seeked out a shrine in hopes of help and being safe.

“The Kunikidas are just in the back room,” A woman said to them, “Did Yoshiko bring you up?”

“Yoshiko?” Nozomi’s eyebrow shot up and all of a sudden, the strange feeling made sense. That was Yoshiko’s presence. Or Yohane’s.

“I’ll take that as a no, but… Please don’t judge her based on how she appears.” 

“Vague…” Riko mumbled, before Dia led the way again through the crowd of people, careful not to intrude on anyone and knocking on the door to the back room.

“Kunikida-san?”

“Just a minute!” A gruff voice lacking any kind of harshness rang though and the door soon slid open, “Ah, the Kurosawa sisters is it?” To Nozomi’s eye, she could tell he was past middle age, but not particularly old, due to his greying features and a few wrinkles here and there, “Some friends too?”

“Ah, yes, well, you surely know Kanan-san and Mari-san,” Dia said, Kunikida nodding in approval and recognition, “This is Sakurauchi-san and this-”

The moment his eyes laid on Nozomi, they flashed with recognition, “Your majesty… Ah! Forgive my manners,” He said, bowing in front of her, “It’s been a very long time since we last had any royalty up in these humble mountains…”

Nozomi sighed quietly, “Kunikida-san, it isn’t necessary for you to bow to me or anything like that. I’m no longer royalty. I’m closer to the people than I’ve ever been.”

He nodded in recognition of the fact after straightening himself up, “I apologise if I offended you in some way. Old habits die hard, you see.”

“No, of course not,” She shook her head, “I suppose it’s a default reaction, even with everything that’s happened.”

“But still, onto the reasons for your visit… I’d be more than happy to look after Ruby here,” He said, sending a bright smile in her direction.

A girl poked her head out from behind the old man, her eyes lighting up at the sight of everyone here, it seemed, “You got here safe, zura! Kanan-chan and Mari-chan have changed a lot though.”

Even though Ruby had been a little bit out of breath from the trek, she eagerly returned the hug that Hanamaru enveloped her in. Dia smiled happily, but Nozomi’s attention turned away from the scene and instead towards a presence that had just entered the room: Yoshiko’s and Yohane’s.

Yoshiko looked curious, having noticed something strange enter the shrine too and she seemed to be on her guard, until her eyes landed on Nozomi and she visibly startled, “Hey, hey, I swear I’m not dangerous!” She held up her hands in defence, which were gloved.

“You take people up here?” Nozomi asked carefully.

“Well… Yeah. When I was in my cell, I didn’t have a lot to do y’know. I had to spend a lot of that talking to Yohane and I started to bargain with her… I know I shouldn’t have, but,” Yoshiko only shrugged, “I didn’t want to wait for an exorcist to come along. Priority wasn’t on me,” She said with a hint of resentment, not that she wanted to get on Nozomi’s bad side, “When Yohane told me when the perfect time to break out was, I went for it and she blasted through the sealing gloves and we left.”

“She could do that for all the time you were down there?”

“Not with me resisting.”

“Right…” Nozomi nodded, regarding Yoshiko with a certain degree of caution, even if what she had done here was morally pure.

“Yohane told me what was happening and I suggested riding it out at the Kunikida shrine. When we got here, we agreed to sealing gloves. She says she might leave when this whole thing is over though. And I got sucked into helping.”

“You volunteered, zura.”

“Hey!” Yoshiko snapped.

“Is it truly okay to leave Ruby with you here, Kunikida-san?” Dia asked, cutting through Yoshiko speaking any further.

“Of course! Besides, we’re fit to take on a few more refugees anyway. Maybe she can help us too.”

“I’d be happy to do that!” Ruby declared, sending a quick look to everyone who was already here.

“But what will the rest of you be doing?” The old man raised his eyebrow at the group of them and his gaze drifting to some of the weapons on them.

Nozomi felt most of the looks on her and so, she felt it was her place to explain, “We’re going to right some wrongs, quite simply.”

“I assume you’re being vague, because in the eyes of other people, it would be something quite stupid?” He asked with a small chuckle.

“Well… You have to admit, he’s got us there,” Kanan said, scratching her neck with a look in Nozomi’s direction.

“Better than not trying at all,” Nozomi shrugged, “And if I feel as though I can do something, whatever that may be, to help, then I will try it.”

“I suppose that’s as admirable as one can get,” He hummed, folding his arms in thought, “I wish you luck on whatever you’re doing. But if I’m getting the message correctly, then can you please follow me?” He said, gesturing to Nozomi alone.

Nozomi nodded and followed the man into the back rooms, that seemed to stretch quite far, with a few scattered people inside who were injured, mostly. It appeared as a makeshift hospital and Nozomi felt her heart wrench at the sight of a few of them, who probably wouldn’t make it. But the sights only seemed to stoke the fire inside her all the more.

“I trust the message you got was that I intended to fight?”

“Mm,” He grunted with a nod of the head, “And I don’t doubt in your abilities. But I would like to help you carry out what you want to do.”

He reached into a storeroom, shoving a few bags and training items aside, “It’s been a while since I’ve rummaged through here, so forgive me if this takes me… A moment,” He grunted, dislodging a few things that looked like they hadn’t seen the light of day in years, “I always felt it might have been a little cruel to have anyone clean this out, you see…”

“Take your time,” Nozomi said, glancing over her shoulder once more.

“I think it’s right at the very back too…” He stepped inside and his foot was met by an unhealthy amount of dust, but cleaning this storeroom would be the least of anyone’s worries at this point. He coughed, holding his sleeve over his mouth and nose before there was a clunking sound, stability shifting and something was finally brought out.

“I know I probably should have treated this with far more respect whilst it was in my possession, but I was never a huge fan of weapons. I was better at hand to hand myself,” He remarked, backing out of the storeroom and shutting the door with a relieved sigh, glad to be done with the constricting air, “But I feel as though if this were in someone else’s possession, it could do far greater good.”

Carefully held in both hands and in an ornately engraved black sheath was the unmistakable shape and length of a katana. The handle looked somewhat weathered, but that was more due to age and a sheen of dust lay over the shape of the dragon on the sheath.

“You’re sure about giving me this?” Nozomi had often found herself turning down gifts, unless they were from Eli. 

“It isn’t doing any good tucked away in a dusty old storeroom. It seems out of place up here, does it not?”

“I suppose so,” Nozomi said, watching closely as he held it up horizontal to her. She extended both hands as well, taking it from underneath with respect, “I will treat it and use it well.”

He nodded, whilst she brought her hands to both the handle and the edge of the sheath and pulling just an inch of still gleaming blade out with the face of an oni carved there. She pushed the blade back into its sheath and bowed to him, before gently dusting it off until it was to the glory it deserved.

“How long is your journey?” He asked as they began to make their way back towards where Kanan, Mari, Riko and Dia were waiting.

“My first stop is the Sovereign Houses.”

“Really? So far? And that’s only your first stop?”

“Correct, yes. I’ve already been to the castle here and had one… Altercation,” She said carefully, “My next mark is there. But I’m unsure just to what extent I will be travelling.” 

“I see… I don’t know if this will be of any use to you, but if you ever find yourself needing somewhere to stay around here, the shrine will be open to you.”

Nozomi nodded in respect, before they finally returned. Kanan blinked at the sight of the new weapon in her hand, but any help was welcome help, even if it came from unusual sources. Nozomi looked to Dia and gave her a small nod to say that she was ready to go and Dia sighed quietly in response. She knew it was tough for her.

Mari jerked her head to silently convey that it was probably best they wait outside and leave the sisters to say their goodbyes as privately as they could and no one had any arguments. Saying their goodbyes to the Kunikida family and Nozomi profusely thanking the Kunikidas for their gift. Time dragged on as they waited outside, but that was understandable, seeing how closely connected the two were, until a slightly red-eyed Dia left the shrine with a slump in her shoulders.

“You okay?” Mari asked her quietly, almost out of earshot to the others, whilst Dia sniffled and nodded silently. It was probably the best they would be getting out of her.

But there was no time to waste and even if Dia was emotionally drained and worried sick about how long she would be going without seeing Ruby, she knew there were bigger problems to be dealt with.

Starting down the steps and traversing the fog once again, there was no attempt to rescue the mood. Instead, it stayed dismally low, Kanan turning her head towards Nozomi, “Which devil are you going after now?”

“Hoshizora. I don’t know a huge amount about her, but our demon might.”

Dia’s head rose slightly at the mention of that, “Do you want to call on them? I think a rest for myself would be welcome anyway…”

“If that’s alright with you. It’s better to walk and talk rather than waste time being silent during our journey,” Kanan said in agreement with Nozomi.

Nozomi raised her hand to Dia as she’d done before, letting her thumb press into her forehead, before her entire body shuddered and the familiar dark blue eyes of the demon came into view.

“You’re not annoyed about being woken up from your nap this time?” Nozomi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No…” The demon mumbled, seemingly suffering from some emotional bleed from Dia’s current mood, “What did you want me for?”

It seemed a lot less curt than before. Perhaps it knew the gravity of the situation, now that they were actually travelling and preparing to take the fight to the beings that had caused it in the first place.

“I’d like to know everything you can relay to me about Hoshizora. Rumours and facts, please, so long as you tell me which is which.”

It was as good a thing as any to start with as they made their way down the vast staircase.

“Well, if I can remember what I said before, I told you she was extremely quick, correct? That much holds true. Agile and some say as fast as a lightning bolt. But I’ve heard she’s young. Requires too much direction to be a real threat on her own,” The demon shrugged, “She’s a threat right now of course. She has direction, under their leader. But she’s probably less of a megalomaniac and more a prankster. She lacks a place in the world.”

“I think that here’s where my true job begins… She sounds tricky to deal with. Koizumi was… Weak,” Nozomi said, finding a diplomatic word to describe her, “But as I said. She got away.”

The demon snorted, sounding a little bit skeptical of Nozomi’s claim there, “I trust that you’re not going to be overconfident in your dealings with any of them.”

“Of course not,” Nozomi shook her head, “I understand the risk.”

“Maybe if you understood the risk, you’d call of your crusade. But I don’t know how you’re feeling,” The demon sighed, “I’m going to rest now, if that’s alright.”

It was strange to see a demon so exhausted by mere events, or somewhat contradictory, seeing as though their kind were the ones ruling over this realm, at least, for the time being. But that was the least of Nozomi’s worries right now. She steadied Dia’s body as the demon returned control to its rightful owner; the last thing she wanted was her to tumble down the stairs. 

Nozomi fell into a comfortable silence shortly afterwards. The conversations continued between Kanan, Mari, Riko and Dia, with the occasional word from Nozomi, but they could all tell that Nozomi had her sights set on bigger things than her opinion on certain political figures that likely didn’t matter at all now, if any of them were still alive at all.

Finally, after reaching the bottom of the steps, there was a short break whilst Kanan and Mari talked out the route to the Sovereign Houses and Dia asked politely to take a look at the gift Nozomi had been given at the temple and Nozomi wasn’t one to deny her.

She held it with the proper respect it deserved, which was something Nozomi expected from someone who came from a traditional family. She brought out only an inch of the blade and inspected the oni that had retained its detail, however long it had been locked within the room. Returning it to the sheath and back to Nozomi, Riko gestured the two of them closer so that Kanan and Mari could explain the route they were to take.

They would largely be taking longer, around urban areas routes. Law and order were likely failing, as scavengers and those who had nowhere else to turn would likely take to attempting to form roaming bands and whilst they probably wouldn’t entirely avoid them, groups on the fringes of a collapsed society could be taken care of. But mercy would be shown, if the opportunity arose of course.

They all agreed that it was best for them to avoid trouble unless absolutely necessary and soon the first steps towards a gruelling journey would be ahead of them. Luckily, this crossover with the kingdom provided a relatively straight path through it, rather than requiring them to deviate around an ocean, like it would if they were going the other way.

They would likely make it to the Sovereign Houses before sundown, if they didn’t take breaks and everything went according to plan. 

They crossed through villages, to find them mostly deserted, but with a few who had banded together to survive. Tragedies not only brought out survival instincts, but also, brings people together to ensure that everyone may live. But they couldn’t do anything for these people and so, they left them undisturbed, not wanting to initiate a confrontation, as they might admit that they could look a bit menacing from a distance. Three of them were unarmed though and up close, it might be found that they were kinder than first appeared.

After crossing the border, Mari had taken the initiative, as being born and raised here gave the rest of them confidence that she could navigate her way around. But even then she seemed distant, as she looked around the once flourishing markets and cultural areas, that had been turned into an ugly disaster. 

Nozomi could always tell that this kingdom had been one of the most affluent. It managed to avoid inflation by allowing an influx of immigrants to stay and do lower paid jobs, at varying degrees of wages, from fair to unliveable. Mari was obviously one of the richer people who had once lived here, but now wasn’t the time to call her personal morals into question about how she could live here when people were exploited so readily.

Kanan suddenly grabbed Mari by the shoulder and pulled her back, shaking her head and holding a hand up to the rest of them. Nozomi at first thought it might potentially have been one of the devils, but found that the prickling sensation felt more like gazes piercing into her. Kanan pulled everyone towards an alleyway, whilst Dia did her best to hush Riko who was starting to panic.

“There are people in all those buildings. I could feel the eyes through the barred windows.”

“You mean the-”

Kanan cut Mari off with a sharp look, nodding silently. Dia wanted to ask what they meant, but Mari was already leading the way through the other end of the alley without anyone catching a glimpse at her face. Kanan grimaced and jerked her head for everyone to follow.

None of them felt like it was their place to ask what Kanan and Mari had meant, not even Dia. 

Kanan looked over her shoulder and mouthed the words “later,” likely to put their minds at ease and even if it seemed like an empty promise, it made them feel slightly better at least.

When they exited the alleyway, there seemed to be a breath of fresh air to greet them, away from the tense atmosphere of having eyes on them at all times. 

“If we go up these steps, there’s a garden at the top, leading through to the Houses. It’s usually guarded, but…” Mari trailed off, her tone less jubilant than before. She started up the steps first and everyone followed in silent agreement. It was just beginning to dawn on Nozomi however, that she wasn’t the only one with a personal stake in this. Everyone in the world likely had a personal vendetta to fulfil, but she was just the only one with the means to carry it out. With the weight of the world on her shoulders, Nozomi was the second to make the trek up the staircase.

Upon reaching the garden, the gate was open, likely because of an evacuation of the persons inside and the guards simply not bothering to close it up. After all, there seemed little point. The garden however, was sprawling. It hadn’t had the time to be overgrown and had been nurtured by the weather to a certain point, but with signs of weeds beginning to sprout up from the soil. It was almost ethereal, with the archways and the fountain that lay in the centre of it all, virtually untouched and still functioning. The plantlife enveloped everything, even creating a canopy over to blot out the sky. 

Nozomi’s shoulders slouched, feeling almost as though nothing quite mattered anymore. She was back in her own home, in her own garden, Eli with her every step of the way. But it was all the more sobering when reality crashed over her and she sighed languidly as rain began to drip through the thick canopy and onto her shoulder, her hair; her face.

But as the canopy and the garden cleared, it revealed a towering building before them, with everything about as ornate as one could expect. The door was great and wooden, the windows were stained glass of intricately detailed scenes and the brickwork seemes as immaculate as when it had first been built. The silhouette of the sky encompassed the spires and cast a threatening shadow, as rain began to drip off the sills. 

Everyone exchanged varied glances, apart from Nozomi who kept her eyesight trained forward.

They were standing in the presence of the Sovereign Houses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so uh this is probably where i end up trying to write a fight scene of some sort
> 
> wish me luck (sweats nervously)
> 
> also i watched kill bill the other day and i thought "fuck why didn't i give her a katana"
> 
> so now nozomi has a katana. i'm not sorry.
> 
> but anyway!!! please leave a comment and i will see y'all next chapter c':

**Author's Note:**

> forgive me for slow updates for there are exams and stress and i wrote the first chap real quick as a break but now i want to write and develop this into a full length multi-chap but i know how bad i am at those ahah (i'm sorry)
> 
> also if you wanna hear my dumb ravings and maybe interact with me a lot more (*cough cough* get me to write more stuff *cough cough*) then follow me on twitter @Yurutono


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